Straw & Stripes
by Beakwood
Summary: Durham always thought the herbivores to be a fearful and pushover bunch. At least until he stepped on the toes of a very snappy zebra.
1. Chapter 1 - Accidental Meeting

"Is it true? Another Adler show? They never get bored of those?"

"Meh, who cares? At least Legosi is having fun with his lights. I personally slept on last year's event. Never fancied the theatrics."

"How admirable of you Durham. Will you kindly look for Legosi and warn him about his math exercises? It seems like he forgot we are supposed to deliver those tomorrow."

"Sure thing Jack. Anything to get a walk around. I was getting bored being in here. Weekends suck so much."

Jack shook his head as he watched the coyote raise rather lazily from his bed, slipping into his shoes with haste before standing up and cracking joints as he stretched rather dramatically.

"Any idea where he might be?" Durham asked while buttoning his shirt. "I don't feel like walking the entire campus. I had enough of the herbivores staring at me from last year. They need to fucking chill. I don't even have that many fangs, ha!" Durham joked with himself as he made his way to the door.

Jack sighed pensively. The labrador was well aware of Durham's concerns on being out for too long. The amount of herbivore students was of a significant higher number than carnivores, which meant carnivores were mostly avoided and glared upon during most of their time since they arrived at the campus. Jack really lamented that they couldn't leave that hostile behavior back at their primary school years.

"You might find him at the storage buildings. It's where they practice their acts and keep the material. I really don't go there often, nor anyone else that's not in the club. Be careful with Shiira." Jack warned. Shivering as he remembered his last encounter with the cheetah girl.

"Why? Is she gonna beat the crap out of me for trespassing her doll house?" Durham asked crudely. Jack grimaced at his choice of words.

"Well, she's pretty bossy and can be rather intimidating if you're not careful." Durham snorted.

"Sure it has nothing to do with you being a jelly?"

"Hey!"

Durham laughed as he opened the door, leaving a very flustered and undignified Jack behind.

The coyote went downstairs, greeting some of his fellow carnivore classmates on the way, reaching the main courtyard on a rather slow pace. He had no hurry to find Legosi, but he still hoped to avoid more herbivores until he reached the storage houses that were located right near the dorms.

It was a sunny sunday. Clear sky, warm temperature, a gentle breeze soothing over the area outside, the sound of rustling leafs coming from the trees brought an endearing sense of peace to any who paid attention to their surroundings.

Durham glanced as students walked freely across the campus. Most out of uniform due lack of classes. Not a single group was mixed, either all were herbivores or carnivores. He saw nothing new or surprising in that. It has been like that his entire life.

And he was starting to think he really didn't care anymore. It was pointless.

Things had become increasingly bad these last few days. A student had been murdered, a predation occurrence inside an academy that preached for equality and harmony between all kinds of animals.

It has tainted the academy and the trust of everyone inside of it.

To make matters worse the student that was killed was a good friend of Legosi and Jack. One of the very few herbivores they had befriended so far in the academy, now gone forever.

Durham felt bad for the gray wolf, losing people you knew like that wasn't funny at all. It irked him to think the murderer was still out there somewhere, no doubt someone from inside the campus.

The news of the incident spread quickly. Durham recalled the phone call he received from his parents, at first worried if he was involved, then warning him to be cautious as he cleared their doubts. His father was rather adamant about providing something to make him safer.

Durham did not like to think that certain something was staying hidden under his bed, contradicting several rules and laws. He had no choice on the matter. Either he accepted the imposing tool or his parents would transfer him to another academy.

Durham would be dammed if he left his canine friends behind.

Also it scared him to think how easily such tool reached him. No suspicion of any kind from the delivery office.

So invested he was into his own thoughts, Durham failed to notice the storage buildings that were right in front of him. He blinked as he nearly drove face first into a wall. His eyes searched around for any sign of an entrance.

Turns out there were six storage buildings. It took Durham five tries to find the right one. He knocked on a rusty metal door rather impatiently, already worked up about wasting time on different failed attempts.

His ears perked as the faint sound of footsteps reached him from the other side of the door, he cooled his expression, anticipating any kind of surprises that would come his way. He wasn't sure what the folks of the drama club were like but, if any of them were just as 'intriguing' as Legosi, then he was going to have some interesting things deal with.

He found himself somewhat disappointed as he came face to face with a cheetah. He sort of expected something more extraordinary. Cheetahs and leopards were a common species among the carnivore students.

"May I help you with something? This club is private." She asked dryly. Durham kept his poker face on check as he carefully took in her stance. This cheetah girl surely was the one Jack warned him about, she had a very no-nonsense attitude by the way she talked and stared at him.

"Aye, I came here to talk with with Legosi, he's my roommate. It's nothing big, just a quick for him about homework and few other things." The coyote replied coolly. He did his best to look uninterested on whatever they might be doing inside.

Durham was not entirely curious about the drama club, just about who were the members for this semester. Surely they added new members and it was an often thing to hear about the rumour that circulated in regards of the basic qualifications to join such club. The rumour about the qualifications was rather concerning.

The cheetah eyed him with something akin to suspicion, but after a few seconds she hesitantly decided that he was not going to be a hassle for anyone.

"Legosi is currently working on the stage. He will be busy for few minutes, you can wait by the auditorium if you want. Don't touch anything and don't bother anyone. I won't say this twice." She warned with a rather intimidating glare sent his way. Durham merely shrugged, smiling to himself despite her threat.

"Your house, your rules. Oh! Name's Durham. Yours?" He quickly said while raising his hand for a shake.

The cheetah was taken slightly by surprise due the coyote's joyful mood. He didn't seem even a bit nervous due her stance towards him.

"Name's Shiira. I'm the one making sure no one is slacking behind the curtains." She replied, taking his hand with a firm shake. "Normally I would say for you to wait outside, but isn't really safe for... obvious reasons." She added, looking slightly distressed for a second.

Durham could understand her concern for that matter. Acts of predation always brought carnivores under a bad light, no matter if male or female. Having herbivore friends always would make things awkward.

She gestured for the coyote to follow her inside. He did without hesitation, his eyes taking some time to adjust to the more prominent darkness inside the building. A small set of stairs nearby would lead to the backstage, the only sources of light focusing on the main stage that was hidden behind gigantic curtains.

Durham had no doubts that Legosi was up some catwalk working on the lights, but he wouldn't dare shouting for him. Shiira would tear him apart in a matter of seconds.

Instead he found some other members currently chatting among themselves. Some were reading into their scripts while others practised their movements. Durham was immediately stunned to see herbivores and carnivores mixed up in that particular group. A rare sight for nowdays.

"Els, did Dom showed you your costumes?" Shiira asked as she approached a female goat. The girl turned her attention towards the cheetah, providing Durham with one of the sweetest faces he ever saw on an herbivore.

"Oh, yes. He did. I liked it very much." She replied with extreme gentleness. The goat's eyes went from Shiira to Durham in the spam of a second, immediately growing concerned by the presence of the newcomer." Huh, who's this Shiira?"

"A friend of Legosi. Came after him, guess something personal." Shiira replied with a shrug. Durham couldn't help but smile. The cheetah knew how to keep things to herself.

"Oh, Legosi never mentioned any about his other friends before." Els said somewhat surprised.

"Actually I'm his roommate. We are good friends regardless. Name's Durham. You're Els, right? Legosi talked about you a few times. He has you in high regard." The coyote said sympathetically.

Els stared for few seconds before understanding what he was getting at. Her eyes lowered as a saddened expression took on her. Durham couldn't help but feel really bad for the girl.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." Durham quickly said, feeling foolish for dragging the conversation into that. The girl probably was still hurting about Tem.

How unlucky was Els that the boy that had feelings for her was the one murdered a few days back? On top of that Tem was a member of this same very club, which made the incident even more difficult to get past.

"It's alright. I'm grateful that Legosi told me about it. Also... it only then made me realize how sweet and kind he really is. I was often scared of him, but that was because we never really talked before."

"That, and I'm sure Legosi was acting like a total weirdo. He often stares into you, it kinda creeps me out." Durham half joked.

Els giggled while Shiira snorted nearby.

"Yeah, that sounds like Legosi alright. He has to stop thinking so much. Not sure why he gets worked up about even the simple stuff. I asked if he wanted some coffee the other day and he took a whole minute before deciding that he would prefer some tea. It pisses me off at times." Shiira make no effort to hide her annoyance with the wolf.

"I don't mind it. It looks funny actually, and he's cute." Els replied. A small blush on her face hidden under her fluffy wool.

Durham masked his incredulity under his trademark smirk. Although he wasn't sure if one of his eyes was twitching or not.

_'_Sheep girl calling big wolf cute, now I'm getting some different vibes in this place.'

Durham looked around for more interesting things that could be worth remembering, but stage scenery, ropes and some broomsticks weren't much to look at.

The other members were a totally different story.

They were scattered nearby, but not as many as the club was certainly composed of. Perhaps a few other members were currently practicing on stage.

Durham recognized a few like Dom, Kai and Bill. Tao was also there but the coyote never interacted with him before. A squirrel, a giraffe and a zebra were talking amongst themselves. Durham couldn't help but notice that the majority of the herbivores were females.

"Louis will be on for ten minutes. Then we are off to go." Dom, a rather tall and elegant peacock, informed his colleagues as he made his way backstage. "Kai, Louis wants to see you in the office when the rehearsal is over." The bird informed the smaller carnivore.

"Oh, alright then. Probably to talk about the replacement. " Kai said more to himself than anyone.

Durham had no idea what that was all about, he just hoped Legosi would be coming down soon. Despite how nice his little adventure has been so far, the coyote did not want to spend too long close to herbivores, for a spark of misconception or misinterpretation could lead to disastrous results in a matter of seconds.

Unfortunately he wasn't getting any luck in the next few minutes.

Rather bored out of his mind he decided to walk around. With Shiira's warning in mind he didnt touch anything, but rather observed the area with fake interest, although he should've paid more attention to where he was going.

After walking distractedly near a group of herbivores he felt his right foot press over something uneven, almost instantly he was jerked away by a strong set of arms. Durham nearly stumbled upon himself before regaining his footing.

"Watch where you're going moron!" Came the enraged voice of a female. The coyote turned around, finding himself face to face with a very pissed off zebra. She hissed while holding her foot suspended with one of her hands.

"Oh, sorry. I really didn't mean to." Durham replied with honesty. "Are you alright?"

"Guess I should be thankful you didn't bite my leg off!" She shot back with a snarl.

Durham's eyes widened in shock. Never before he saw such a wild tempered herbivore. Normally they either ignored him or muttered under their breath. No matter how angry they would get, herbivores have a greater sense of fear and refrain from shouting at carnivores.

This zebra was the clear opposite of it.

"I... I'm really sorry. Hum... name's Durham." He replied hesitantly. The female huffed before setting her foot back to the floor cautiously, applying a small amount of pressure to make sure it was safe to stand on both feet.

"Ellen. What you're doing here? Doesn't look like you are a new member or anything." She said while placing both hands on her hips. She had very challenging aura and it was rather endearing to watch. At least that's how Durham thought of it.

"Oh, just came by to talk with Legosi. Rather urgent stuff. We're roomates and I kinda had to rush after him to remind of homework." The coyote replied nonchalantly. His eyes scanning the zebra more throughly as he spoke.

This girl was just a bit taller than him, and despite being in the drama club it was hard to not notice the outline of powerful muscles in both her arms and legs. Stripes were all over her body, she was quite exotic to look at, just like tigers. Yet, nothing caught his attention more than the soft blue glow of her eyes. It was unusual to see many animals with colorful eyes as big as hers.

_'_Too bad she isn't in the sports club. I have no doubt she would make quite an impression there.' Durham thought distractedly. 'She has the right attitude and physics. Also quite beautiful.'

His eyes widened in shock at what he just said in his own mind. He never acknowledged this kind of thing to himself before, he was unsure why it came up all of sudden.

Ellen raised an eyebrow at Durham's sudden panicked expression, she was pretty sure he was dozing off on her for a second. Probably just came back to reality and noticed the zebra's annoyed expression.

"Huh, well... I... guess I should wait some mor- somewhere else." He said rather clumsily before walking away to a different corner of the stage.

"What was that all about?" The giraffe girl nearby asked, puzzled at the strange conversation that took place. Ellen shrugged.

"Dunno. Weird carnivore. Let's get dressed and go back to dorms." Ellen replied, watching as the coyote walked away looking rather unsettled.

Muffled shouting suddenly came from someplace else inside the building. Most members present instantaneously turned their heads towards the most likely origin. A few walked towards it immediately in search of answers.

Durham wasn't sure what the commotion was all about, he had his own personal issues to deal at the moment.

_'What just happened? Why did I think something like that? Not only about a girl but an herbivore!'_ He frowned, unsure of how to reason to himself about the strange tug he felt at his chest. This feeling was alien to him, but not unheard of. _'__There's no way I would feel like that for an herbivore! I fucking can't!'_

Durham ran a hand over the top of his head, ruffling the thin layer of fur purely out of agitation. This wasn't him. The coyote was always cool and collected about whatever life threw at him. He never faced the prospect of animalistic behavior urging him to anything. For a moment he was afraid he felt that predator instinct while acknowledging the female zebra, a sudden desire for her flesh may be the cause of his distress.

Durham shook his head.

_'I'm pretty sure I had no desire to harm her in the slightest. I never had a desire to hurt anyone. Well, unless they pissed me off.'_

No, it was a different feeling. Durham wasn't sure he should persue this feeling or ignore it completely. He was certainly afraid of the consequences.

He sighed. Feeling tired and rather upset this happened. He didn't believe this could happen. He didn't want it to happen.

"Durham? What you're doing here?" Asked a rather familiar voice.

Durham's ears perked, his eyes focusing towards the hunched figure of a tall gray wolf staring back at him. Surprise and concern mixed on his face.

"Oh, hey Legosi. Fancy seeing you here." Durham joked, although it had little to no effect on the other carnivore. "I came by because Jack is going up the walls due your math honework. We have to present it tomorrow."

"Oh. I'm pretty sure I'm almost done." Legosi replied.

A silence stretched afterwards. The coyote felt awkward by the sudden prolongued pause.

"So, you alright?" Durham asked. After many days spent together with the wolf it was already possible to tell some of his facial expressions despite the usual blankness. Durham didn't know much about Legosi, but if the rumors about the drama club members were true then he felt no need to know at all.

"Yeah, just a lot in mind." He muttered distractedly. "You met the others?"

"Oh, yeah. They are a interesting bunch. Especially the zebra girl."

Durham wanted to slap himself right then. Why did he mention her at all? Why she was the special one anyways?

Legosi stared, seemingly surprised.

"You mean Ellen? She's usually afraid of carnivores."

Durham blinked. Ellen? Afraid? Was he serious?

"Wait, wait. How do you even know that? She looked terrifying when I stepped on her by accident." Durham retorted dubiously. The wolf frowned.

"You stepped on her?"

"It was an accident Legosi." Durham repeated himself, annoyed at the wolf for focusing on that. Just because he is a coyote it doesn't mean he goes out searching from trouble for the sake of it. "Besides, she pushed me off really hard. I nearly fell flat on my face."

Legosi's eyes widened slightly.

"She pushed you? That doesn't sound like Ellen."

"How many female zebras in this club go by the name Ellen?" Legosi did not respond. "Figures. Let's go back to the dorms."

"You can go ahead. I need to check a few equipment before closing the doors."

"Eh, fine by me. I'll let Jack know to not be so worked up."

Legosi nodded quietly before walking away. Durham watched him for a second before making his way back outside.

It was late in the afternoon, the sun's brightness dimming from a bright yellow to an intense orange. Most students were already back at the dorms. Not a single herbivore spotted in his way back to the carnivores dorm.

_'Unsurprising considering the circumstances.'_

Durham felt bad for them. Predation has forced them into hiding early, no herbivores dared to leave the campus during weekends. They used to believe they were safe inside, but after Tem's murder the level of mistrust and panic rose to exponential levels.

Some carnivores were also being punished by these incidents. Herbivores were avoiding carnivores as much as possible, that including those who shared club activities or classes. The clear segregation behavior wasn't doing the School's name any favors.

It was normal for herbivores to be afraid, even some carnivores were afraid. Predation often targeted herbivores but there were instances of carnivores devouring their own kin.

It wasn't normal for herbivores to be violent. Ellen was the first herbivore to act rather violently towards Durham, a carnivore no less.

Durham couldn't understand how Legosi saw her as being fearful. There was no trace of fear on that murdering expression the zebra gave towards the coyote. It was both shocking and fascinating.

He shook his head. Thinking about her would only cause him troubles. It would be better to just forget the whole thing and organize his backpack for the classes tomorrow.

Durham entered his dorm room quietly. He found Jack laying over his bed, the labrador was so absorbed reading his book that he didn't notice Durham walking in.

"Hey Jack!" Durham yelled excitedly.

Jack gasped while he jumped in fright. Bumping his head on top of his wooden bunker.

"Ow! D-Durham?! What gives?!" The labrador asked while in pain and annoyed. The coyote smirked at his clumsy friend.

"Just came back. Found Legosi and let him know about your concerns."

"Oh, huh, thanks." Jack replied while caressing his injury. He eyed the coyote thoughtfully. "Hum, so did Shiira gave you any trouble?"

Durham snorted. He walked back to his own bunker, removing shoes and socks, relieved to be barefoot again, before laying back into his bed, feeling more worn out than usual.

"Nah, but you could've warned me about the crazy zebra girl that nearly ripped my head off." Durham joked. Jack looked dumbfounded.

"A zebra almost killed you?" Jack asked slowly, unsure if he should be shocked or laugh. Durham smiled.

"Yeah, she was a tough one. I kinda bumped into her by accident. She got super mad and tried to murder me right then."

Jack could only stare deadpanned.

"Are you sure you're not exaggerating?"

"Eh, maybe." Durham replied with a chuckle. "... she has beautiful eyes though."

Jack wasn't sure how to answer to that. He never before heard Durham compliment anyone on their physical attributes, much less a girl.

Durham took Jack's silence as his cue to shut up and stop talking like a weirdo. He didn't care what Jack thought of it. He was merely speaking the truth.

Durham wanted to see those eyes again.


	2. Chapter 2: Wishful Thinking

"Hey, have you noticed anything weird on Legosi lately?"

"Weird? You mean more than usual? Not sure if I'm the best person to be asking."

"Well, I'm kinda worried. He seems to be in a sour mood of sorts. Not sure what's bugging him so much."

"Chill Jack. Legosi may not look like it, but he's a tough nut to crack. Whatever is on his mind won't be anything that will last for too long. Just give him some time."

"I hope you're right Durham."

The coyote glanced at the labrador, a sense of worry taking over him for a second. It was unusual for Jack to display this amount of concern for his best friend. If the dog felt worried then it must mean something serious was going on.

Durham wasn't sure what he could even do in regards to the situation. Legosi wasn't the most talkative and the coyote had sparse conversations with his fellow canine. He knew next to nothing about the gray wolf.

The last couple days went rather normally. The animosity of the last week died down a bit, but news of predation incidents around the city kept the herbivores on high alert. Durham was honestly upset to hear about the increase of attacks. He worried for his father working on the police force, imagining what hell he might be going through.

His mother called a couple times to ask about him and his classes. His responses were nothing out of the ordinary, at least until his mother started asking him about female students. Durham felt his body temperature increase drastically during the interrogation. Those kinds of questions never bothered him before, mostly because he never displayed any actual interest for anyone. Things changed after his incursion at the drama club.

He managed to deviate away from that topic, but his mother was suspicious of him nevertheless. She wished him well and hoped to see him visit during winter break. He promised to pass by as soon as possible before ending the call with a sigh of relief.

He wasn't sure why she was being so nosy. His romantic life wasn't going anywhere. He didn't deny he has charm for the ladies, but he felt rather alienated from that kind of concern.

At least that's what he thought.

The zebra girl, Ellen, he tried to get some info about her classes. He was hopeful they could be sharing at least one since she was also a second year. His source of info was Bill, who's source of info was Els.

The goat girl had been quite another strange phenomenon in Durham's opinion. She was hanging with the drama club carnivores way more than usual, it was really strange. The coyote wasn't sure if Els felt safer among them nor why she would risk herself without a good reason.

He did notice she only hanged with specific carnivores like Shiira, Aoba and Legosi. For some reason she avoided the others.

Nevertheless Durham got what he wanted. Him and Ellen shared two classes. Biology and History. He was not really surprised he never noticed her around. Biology demanded a lot of his focus and History class drove him into a different plain of reality.

The coyote successfully found where she was sitting during a History class. He found himself to be dissapointed that she was at the far corner, amidst several other herbivores. This kind of grouping was very common among their kind. Very few herbivores didn't care about where they would be sitting.

Although his luck had turn around when they reached the Biology class. He found the zebra sitting by herself at the center. Durham couldn't resist the opportunity and went towards her. He had swiftly reached her seat level and approached carefully as to not alarm her.

That was his first mistake.

He remembered that Ellen was distracted searching for something inside her backpack and had her back towards him. Durham gently tapped her shoulder to announce his presence.

A sickening noise came from his stomach as a fist collided with it at full speed. He doubled over himself, eyes bulging out in shock as a silent gasp escaped his wide open jaw.

He fell on the floor in slow motion, his lungs were screaming in protest for much needed air. He felt extremely disoriented and scared as he struggled to breathe properly.

He faintly heard the zebra mutter curses nearby. Soon he felt two hands wrap around his hips, roll him to face upwards, and gently pulling his belly upwards.

Slowly, but surely, his breathing recovered from the traumatic event. He felt lightheaded for few seconds before regaining a better sense of reality around him.

He found the zebra to be standing right above him, her legs at each of his sides, arms stretched as she pulled his guts to alleviate the pressure on his lungs. Her face a mix of emotions. Her beautiful eyes finding his. He couldn't help the heat on his face as they stared into each other so intensely.

At least until she dropped him without any further notice. His back ached for a second after making contact with the floor.

_" Urgh, h-hi Ellen."_

_" Just what the hell were you thinking? You can't just sneak up on me like that. Are you out of your mind?"_

Durham sighed as he recalled that particular conversation. She was livid with him, chastising his stupidity, berating him for being so inconsequential on his approach.

He apologized, admitted to be at fault and accept the punishment. His attitude surprised the zebra. She clearly expected him to argue his case, not to just agree with her.

_"Are you feeling alright?"_

_"I will live. I have dealt with this kind of thing before. I always get hit in the stomach during football practice. Yet, nothing felt this brutal. You are super strong."_

Durham had a wide smile on his face as he complimented her strenght. Ellen did stare at him in bewilderment, unsure if the coyote was being serious or not.

_"So, I guess we are classmates... mind if I sit here? I don't feel like walking anywhere at the moment."_

His second mistake was thinking that the zebra would ever want to sit near a carnivore.

She was clearly disgusted at his suggestion. He wondered if that's how she actually felt. Durham was almost certain that she only accepted it after seeing his reaction.

Durham wasn't sure what his face looked like once he saw the way the outline of her face contorted into something nasty, but he was pretty sure he felt really hurt by it. Some of his hurt must've surfaced onto his facial expression. Seeing it probably made the zebra somewhat guilty and ashamed of herself.

At least he hoped that's what happened.

She allowed him to sit near her. The awkwardness that followed took away whatever joy he would have with that small victory. It was rather surprising no one saw him getting handled by a zebra girl in middle of class.

He tried to make small talk as they started taking notes from the chalkboard. The Biology teacher was very keen on writing long, detailed and unenthusiastic texts upon texts of research. Most student learned at this point to only take notes of whatever seemed relevant enough to fit into a test.

Ellen had ignored him for the most part of the time. Frowning at each of his attempts to get her to talk with him. He could remember he was upsetting her the more he insisted.

_"I don't want you to hate me or anything. I just want to understand you more, that's all."_

That had gotten her attention. Her eyes finally breaking that glare of steel, looking at him in wonder. Such beautiful eyes.

_"Why me? Why not literally anyone else?"_

Durham had to admit she had a good reason to ask. He couldn't help the smirk he had on his face as he was thinking his answer carefully.

_"Because... you're different from any other animal I've ever seen. Well, at least herbivores. That and..."_

_"And, what?"_

_"You have the prettiest eyes I've ever seen."_

Durham sighed. He shouldn't have said that. She took it the wrong way and punched him right at the edge of his muzzle. His nose was still itching to this day.

Thankfully he managed played it off as a joke. She merely huffed at him, extremely disapproving of his idea of a joke. The coyote couldn't help but feel a coldness in his chest he never experienced before.

Was this zebra so completely against the idea of a carnivore and herbivore being together? Making an honest attempt of complimenting someone's physical attributes should not be a punching matter.

Durham wasn't even sure what was the point of all of this. Does he really want to get along with her that badly? He never took himself as the desperate type.

The fact he got harassed in middle of class, again, went unnoticed a second time. Durham was starting to understand how someone managed to commit murder inside the school without being afraid of the consequences.

He couldn't help but remember how saddening it felt to see her rush past him as soon the bell rang. No words or a glance of acknowledgement. Just an unforgiving cold shoulder. It was clear to Durham that she did not care about him.

He has to change her mind somehow.

Durham knows exactly who is the animal he needs to talk with. Talking with her would be a problem though, she's also at the drama club and a carnivore like him reaching her on his own would cause unnecessary worry.

"Hey Jack, where's Legosi?" Durham asked as he searched for his dear roommate across the room. Jack was currently scribbling something as he was sitting at his own bunker. The dog raised his head, a vague expression of curiosity adorning his features.

"Huh, I imagine he's out with Collot. They were going after bags so we could use them for the fur we will be selling after trimming. Not sure really. Why do you ask?" Durham shrugged.

"I kinda need to talk with someone at the drama club. I rather not go there by myself. I'm not exactly a member."

"So you need Legosi as an excuse." Jack guessed as he stared in wonder. "Who you need to talk with? I'm sure you can find them during free time somewhere else."

Durham scratched his chin, feeling uncertain of how to explain things to Jack without making it awkward for himself.

"Yeah, but it's an herbivore. I don't need to be getting weird glares from a group if I approach one. You know how that is. Besides, that club has some interesting folks. You should go there too, might help you to make some nice friends." Durham chuckled. Overly nice Jack was just too sweet for people to not befriend him.

"I guess." Jack replied thoughtfully. "Say, you don't think Shiira will be upset if I show up, right? I kinda feel I didn't make a good impression last time."

Durham's senses went on high alert. Did he just heard that right? Sweet, lovable, loyal, caring and positive Jack being worried about what a girl thought of him?

A smirk played at the edges of the coyote's mouth. He took a sitting stance over his bed as he regarded the anxious labrador across the room.

"Hold on... you are actually worried about Shiira? Wait, wait, wait... Jack, don't tell me you are actually crushing on her-

"NO!"

His immediate shout of denial was all confirmation Durham needed. He laughed at the ashamed retriever that placed both hands on his own face. The heat waves of embarrassment reaching all the way across the room.

"Oh, come on Jack! That's great! No need to be hiding out! You gotta work courage to push this through. The others were thinking you to be too much of a wimp to get a girl. Imagine the shock on their faces if you get on a date with that cheetah!"

Durham's encouragement and support surprised Jack. The dog stared back, seemingly hopeful but still very hesitant.

"I... think? I don't know. This is all a bit sudden for me. That's why I'm scared of seeing her again. I don't want to make a fool of myself." He sighed heavily, staring into an empty space as if searching for something. "I don't even know anything about her. I wish I could get an idea of what she's like besides the bossy attitude."

Durham smiled, feeling sympathetic for his friend. Jack was always a happy and positive animal, to see him getting so worked up about a girl was enough for the coyote wanting to help him.

"Trust me, I know how you feel. I'm kinda in the same boat on that regard." Jack's thoughtful behavior broke as he stared back at Durham.

"You mean... you also have a crush that you know nothing about?" This time around Durham could feel the excitement building up on Jack's voice. Durham nodded with a sheepish smile.

"Yeah, she's a tough girl. Strong, tall, fierce and rather exotic looking." He described rather vaguely. Jack frowned as he tried to picture on his head the image of the descriptions he received.

"Well, I don't recall many carnivores that look like that." Jack said slowly while struggling to gather possible candidates sorted out. "I would say a tiger, perhaps a gray wolf? Puma? Leopard?"

Durham sighed. He wondered how Jack was going to take this.

"Yo, Jack, can we keep this a secret? You know, I won't tell anyone about Shiira and you don't say anything about my crush?" The coyote proposed as he regarded the dog with utmost seriousness.

Jack realized the hardened look on Durham's face, understanding the extreme necessity for secrecy.

"Of course. This is between us. I promise I won't tell anyone." Jack jumped from his bed, walking towards Durham as he raised his hand for a compromising shake. The coyote smiled, knowing he could trust the labrador without a worry. He shook the hsnd to seal the agreement.

"Okay, for starters my crush isn't a carnivore."

Jack's shock was instantaneous. He stared on utter astonishment back at Durham.

"B-But then... that means..."

"Yep, she is." Durham said, fully aware at what Jack was trying to get at. The dog struggled to come with terms of what he just heard.

"What species then?" Jack asked as he tried to wrap his head at the circumstances.

"Zebra. Her name is Ellen." Durham calmly replied. The dog gasped in realization.

"Wait! That Ellen?! No way! For real? Wow Durham, she's... she doesn't like carnivores in the slightest." Durham snorted.

"I think after all the beating I got I was able to get a bit suspicious." He joked bitterly. Jack raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean with that?"

Durham hesitated. He trusted Jack to keep his mouth about his weird crush in secret, but getting beating up by an herbivore girl wasn't going to do his canine pride any favors.

Not that he minded the beatings that much.

"Oh, it's just Ellen is a bit rough. She doesn't like me being pushy. Gotta say I never expected a zebra to pack such powerful punches."

"S-She punched you?!" Jack was perplexed. He never heard before of an herbivore physically assaulting a carnivore. Much less one brave enough to do so. Sure, perhaps stronger ones like horses, elephants and a few others. A female zebra was very unlikely.

"Yeah." Durham replied, feeling some weird sense of pride on that, which didn't make much sense at all. "She's got quite a personality. I just need to know more about her. I might get her to talk with me without breaking any bones."

Jack stared dubiously at his roommate. He wanted to tell Durham that this didn't sound like a good idea, but he dared not to crush his friend's hopes of a relationship. Not to mention

Durham's case was complicated enough without Jack giving him negative opinions.

"Sooo, how do you plan to find more about Ellen?" Jack asked while walking back to his own bunker, his eyes searching for his pen lost amid his messy blankets.

"Well, the same way you could find more about Shiira." He immediately replied with a cunning smile. Jack froze for a second before resuming his search.

"And that would be?"

"Well, I can talk with Els."

"Els? I mean... I think that kinda makes sense. She is a good friend of pretty much every herbivore and all females at the club. How can you ask her things without making it obvious why you're suddenly so interested?"

Durham crossed his arms with a huff. Truth to be told the coyote hadn't thought of that. Els might be a nice girl and all, but there was no telling if she would keep Durham's nosy questions to herself. A carnivore asking personal things about an herbivore at a time like this would raise many concerns.

"I might try to talk with Shiira first then. At least I hope I can get her to listen. Not sure she would know much about Ellen." Durham groaned in frustration. This was getting far more complicated than it needed to be. It would be so simple if he just asked the zebra directly if she wasn't so bent on ignoring his existence.

Sensing his friend's agitation Jack placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. The coyote glanced back at him, surprised by the gesture.

"Hey, whatever you need, I will be here for you. I'm sure the others will be if you talk with each about it. Just don't go out thinking you're alone on it. We're friends after all."

Durham couldn't help the thankful smile. Sure, Jack's words were cliche and cheesy as hell, but it was the truth regardless of how it sounded.

"Eh, sure thing Jack. I can dig up something about Shiira if you want. Anything for my pal." Durham offered sincerely. The dog laughed for a second, amused at the idea.

"Yeah, I guess so. I'm not too worried with that just yet. Say, Durham... did you notice som-

"Something off about Legosi." The coyote immediately concluded. Rolling his eyes at how predictable Jack's actual concerns were. "Yeah, you asked before. Like I said, Legosi seems moody all the time, but rather than look deep lost in his own head he looked rather troubled. So I guess that's different?"

Jack remained silent. His head racing thoughts left and right, searching for whatever might be aggravating his best friend.

"You know Jack, it's easier if you just nag him with questions. If you two are really close, Legosi should have no issues talking with you about it. Perhaps it's an issue like mine." The coyote suggested with a shrug. Jack jolted after hearing those words.

"Wait, Legosi... in love?" The labrador never dismissed such notion about his best friend, but the event seemed very unlikely to happen considering Legosi's personality. "Who would be the wolf girl then?"

Durham gave him a pointed look in return.

"You have no idea if it's a wolf, a carnivore or even a girl for that matter." Jack winced.

"I can't imagine Legosi would swing the other way."

"Would that change the way you appreciate him?" Durham asked seriously.

"...no. It wouldn't. It's just... weird."

Durham laughed hard. The fact that weirdness was still a factor in this conversation was just too much of an absurd. Poor innocent Jack.

"Jack, Jack, Jack. Life is never that simple. You gotta learn to adapt to different situations. Just because, urgh, society expects you to act a certain way it doesn't mean everyone will follow that trend. Hey, if it's not a law it's not exactly wrong."

"Who says stuff like that?" Jack asked, concerned by the notion. Durham shrugged.

"My dad. He knows the law upside down. Is his job after all." Durham's eyes laid upon his own bed, knowing exactly what was hidden under the bunker. "Sometimes I wonder if he knows way too much."

"Why would knowing the law be a bad thing?" Jack was confused by the way Durham spoke. Durham had a good idea why, but he rather not make Jack worried about things he didn't have too. Aside his own girl problems of course.

"No sweat. Just a thing between me and my dad. He kinda expects me to become a cop too. I just don't feel like it."

Jack's ears perked up in a mix of interest and excitement.

"Oh, what do you want to do after concluding your graduation?" He asked with earnest.

"Honestly? I wanted to do something related with sports. Nothing extremely physical, I wanted to be a pilot of sorts. Perhaps racing? The idea of being a driver is very appealing. I feel like racing is something that gives animals a more even ground. No one is just too fast or too strong whem compared with another. Is all on reflexes and skill." The coyote couldn't help but get carried away in his own excitement. "I'm pretty sure I can get a driver license right away and do some tests for the local auto company. They were looking for candidates these last few days, but apparently the amount of people that want to take into racing is nearly nonexistent. I can legally get my license next year and apply on my fourth year of school. If everything goes right I will go straight into tests after graduation."

Jack stared in awe. It surprised immensely to find out how Durham has already thought on how to follow his own dream career.

"Wow, you're pretty serious about this." Jack commented after a moment of silence.

"Yeah." Durham said with a silly smile on his face. "I need to find out what career Ellen wants to follow."

"Huh, why?" Jack asked while internally wondering how many times Durham would keep bringing up weird things today.

"Why, you ask? Well, I need to have a card on my hand if I want to convince her that there's something to look forward if she gives me a chance. If I find what her dreams are I can help her to achieve them. That's what you do for someone you're in a relationship with."

"Yeah, but you two are not in a relationship and considering that you're thinking this far ahead about you two kinda sounds like you intend to marry her or something." The labrador replied while glancing worriedly back at his roommate.

Durham was taken aback by his words. Jack did make sense after all. Durham wondered if he was going about this way too fast, obsessed even. Perhaps he was, but who cares? He knows what he wants.

He wants Ellen. Nothing was going to change his mind on that regard.

To make that true he will be visiting that drama club again. With way more interest than last time.


	3. Chapter 3 - Acting on Actions

"Hey, Legosi! Wait up!"

"Huh? Durham? Do you need anything?"

"Sure thing! You heading for the storage house?"

"It's more of an auditorium..."

"Yeah, sure. We can call it that. Anyways, I kinda need to go with you."

"Huhhh, go with me?... why?"

"Well, I need to talk with Els."

Legosi blinked. His body slowly turned around to adress the shorter canine. A dubious look on his face as the wolf tried to make sense of Durham's intentions.

_'I don't understand. None of the others ever bothered about anyone from the club. Yet, ever since his last visit, Durham has been asking about everyone in it. Normally I wouldn't mind, but there has to be a reason for him to be acting up like this.'_

Legosi tried yesterday to ask Jack if he knew anything, but Jack made it very clear that he wasn't getting involved, whatever that meant.

_'Should I ask him why? I don't want to pry into his business. Still, I can't help but to be worried. I don't think Durham would ever hurt anyone, but talking with herbivores out of the blue like this would raise suspicion... just like talking with Haru.'_

"Legosi, are you done staring into my soul?" Durham asked crudely. The wolf blinked as he became one with reality again, finding himself looking at Durham's joyful grin.

"Oh, huh. Sorry. I had a lot to think about these days." He replied meekly.

The apology intrigued the coyote. Durham wondered if Jack's suspicions about Legosi have some validation after all.

"Shall we get going? I don't know much about it, but I think that deer friend of yours wouldn't like for you to be late." Durham asked while walking past the troubled wolf.

Legosi slowly followed after Durham, seemingly hesitant about voicing his own opinions on the matter.

"Louis wouldn't be too bothered about the lack of one stage crew member. Although Kai still is getting familiar with the lighting sets, I should be looking on him just in case." Legosi's said, his voice devoid of any concern despite his words.

"Riiiight. Say, why you work on backstage again? I mean, is it true what they say about the members of that club?" Durham asked, glancing at his roommate with a frown of concern. Legosi returned the glance with his own impassive expression.

"Well, I work there cause I like what I do."

"Huh, fair enough."

"And... what's the rumour that you heard about the club?" Legosi asked, genuinely intrigued by what could be the gossip. He rarely heard people talking about clubs in particular, but after Tem's death the amount of popularity the club gained was mindblowing. It was also somewhat infuriating.

"Eh, just that people that join the club had bad things happen with them in the past." Durham pushed the exit door open, grabbing the lever and keeping it from closing back so Legosi could follow without trouble. The wolf thanked him with a nod.

"Well, I guess it's somewhat true. Everyone I know there has... faced issues. Although I don't know about some members. Kai knows a bit more about that than I do. Where or how he found out I have no idea." Legosi explained, he occasionally wondered if his own background was one of the main reasons to be accepted. One would think he was just too peaceful to have faced anything difficult. "I don't know why having a troubled past would need to be a thing to be part of the club. Is a bit odd. I never realized it until Kai talked about it."

Durham nodded, his mind racing awful thoughts about what could've been the reason behind Ellen's acceptance. His attention wavered as he watched the empty pathway towards the storage compound. It was getting late, for whatever reason the drama club scheduled their practicing acts at each end of afternoon.

"This is odd, isn't it?"

"What you mean?"

"You and me hanging out, just the two of us. It's kind of a first. I don't think you ever go somewhere with any of of us other than Jack. Unless we're all grouped up."

Legosi remained silent. Durham made a good point. The wolf never really hung out with his other roommates individually, Jack being the obvious exception.

Perhaps Legosi should try to variate his inner circle of people he usually talks with.

Durham was an oddity among his group of canine roommates. The coyote rarely got upset at something or anyone. His disposition to help others was quite admirable, although his sarcasm and smugness at times could be quite irksome. The coyote could be quite shrewd when he wanted to, his uncaring attitude towards herbivores commonly mistaken by distaste.

Legosi's thoughts were interrupted as both reached their destination. The wolf opened one of the main doors of the auditorium, allowing him and Durham to enter a vast darkness, where the only source of light available was coming from the sizable stage.

At mentioned stage some members were already practicing their acts. Durham took no less than a second to spot Ellen onstage along with Louis, Tao, and two other members he didn't recognize. It seemed they were just finishing perfecting one of Adler's scenes.

Louis voice boomed across the spaced room, his speech firm and imposing. His glare rather unsettling to witness. Such ferocity his face expressed that Durham couldn't help but admire him.

At least until he grabbed Ellen's hand and ran around the stage area, the other hand holding some sort of stick while being chased by the other three actors. Ellen's distressed voice reached the coyote's ears. For nearly a brief moment Durham wanted to rush after her. He had to beat his own self into reminding that this is just an act, nothing bad is going to happen.

Although the spark of burning jealousy had been ignited. He couldn't help but glare at the way Louis dragged her around the stage, Ellen's acting wasn't fooling him. Despite her fake terrified face, he could see in her eyes, even at such distance, how much she was enjoying herself.

Durham hoped it was the acting that she was enjoying. Not being pulled all over the place by the flaunting deer.

"Ah, Legosi, we were looking for you!"

Both Durham and Legosi averted their attention from the stage to the familiar figure of Dom standing nearby an open side soor.

"Sorry Dom. I was busy with homework. Are the others with you?" The wolf asked apologetically.

"Oh, yes. We are rearranging the uniforms and costumes. If you don't mind helping us."

"I'm coming right away."

Dom nodded before gracefully exiting back through the door. Legosi sighed as he addressed the coyote.

"I have some errands to do. Will you need anything?"

"Nah, don't worry. Besides, I think I saw Els near the stage. I will find my way around."

"Just... be careful."

"Heh, don't worry Legosi. I won't eat anyone."

The wolf flinched at the joke. A reminder of an awful event from recent days. Durham noticed this strange reaction but said nothing on it.

"Hum, right. I should go."

Durham watched as Legosi walked away despondently. The coyote couldn't help but worry about him, it was clear that something was causing turmoil on the taller carnivore.

"Alright everyone, that was a great rehearsing!"

Durham blinked, his eyes focusing back to the stage. Louis was standing still with Ellen covering behind him. A pelican approached them, his words inaudible at the current distance.

Durham observed as Louis handed his training stick towards Ellen. He ignored her entirely as he focused on whatever the small avian was telling him about. Ellen bowed to Louis, although the gesture was rather awkward as he had his back facing her. The zebra turned around slowly, her disappointment quickly masked once she was greeted by Els.

Durham felt genuinely bad for her. It was obvious that she had hopes of being acknowledged by the deer, but Louis indifference was a slap to the face.

He felt so bad that he simply could not miss the chance of rubbing it on her face. Maybe now she would understand how he felt every time she ignored him.

He approached both girls quietly. Both were observing as Louis directed more of his grandiose towards the carnivore actors. He whistled as he got closed enough. Els heard the whistle and turned her head his way, but Ellen remained fixated on the deer.

"Oh, Durham, hi!" Els greeted him with a rather cute smile.

The coyote was taken aback by the fact the goat girl actually remembered his name. Not to mention how strangely fondly she addressed his presence.

He waved at her, an approval smile on his face, thankful that she actually acknowledged his existence with some care.

The mention of his name broke Ellen from her stupor. Her eyes widened as her head slowly rotated to meet the coyote's intense gaze. Her mouth opened slightly, as if she tried to find words to express her shock of seeing him so close at such place yet again.

"Oh, hey Ellen. Nice to see you again." He greeted smoothly. "How's your foot by the way? I actually forgot to ask. Hopefully my careless didn't do anything permanent."

Ellen did her best to not shout back at him. The shit-eating grin on Durham's face was making her blood boil at an exceptional alarming rate.

Els giggled as she switched her view between each of them, seemingly expectant of something interesting to happen. Ellen was far from being humored.

"Els, can we talk in private?" Durham asked, sensing imminent danger as Ellen struggled to maintain a passive behavior. Els nodded, surprised by the suggestion and lightly concerned.

"Hum, sure. We can go to the backstage." She offered as she walked by the zebra. "I will be right back Ellen."

The zebra merely huffed in response. Els frowned at her but said nothing else. Durham climbed the stage to follow after Els, lowering his voice as he passed by the zebra.

_"Doesn't feel nice to be getting the cold shoulder too, now does it?"_

Ellen remained still, her hands closing into fists, her body starting to shake from sheer anger. Her face screamed promises of endless pain, her eyes narrowed in a way that would make any carnivore proud.

Durham couldn't help the chuckle as he walked away. If she wanted to be like that so be it. He would poke on her pride as much as he could.

The coyote stopped as he found himself alone with Els at a rather dark area. He could sense her uneasiness from a mile away. The goat stared back at him apprehensively. Durham felt gutted by seeing her discomfort.

"Els, you're not scared of me, right? I may be a carnivore, sure, but I'm Durham above everything. I may be an ass, sarcastic and rather full of myself at times. Despite all those things I would never want to hurt anyone, unless they assault me or ask for it."

She smiled sheepishly at his own self description. Despite her reasonable reasons to feel concerned the girl was brave enough to look him in the eyes, something that the great majority of herbivores avoided.

"No, it's okay Durham. I just need to get used to this. I spent most my life being educated on how dangerous carnivores are. Nobody ever cared to explain that, well... they are animals too. They feel and they hope just like us herbivores. Legosi helped me saw through most of it. Gray wolfs have a bad reputation and he proved me wrong on everything I thought about him. I guess... that's why him and Tem were so close."

Her crestfallen expression at mentioning Tem was gut-wrenching. The coyote hoped dearly he never have to experience something like that.

"You know, I also had my own biased views on herbivores. Not until I met you and Ellen I always thought the herbivores to be spineless and manipulative. Guess we all learn things if we just bothered talking with each other." He added bitterly, his thoughts going back to the stubborn zebra.

"You like Ellen, don't you?"

That question coming out of the blue made Durham jump for a second, he stared back at the goat with incredulity. His thoughts scrambled as he desperately tried to search for a convincing response. Els giggled at his reaction which caused Durham's face to become increasingly hot.

"It's alright, I won't tell her. I kinda had a suspicion when she talked about you sitting next to her on one of her classes. It surprised me you still going after her despite the way she hurt you." She said sympathetically. Durham could only partially agree.

"Oh, well, I don't mind her hitting me and all. It's kinda endearing actually. It makes her even that more amazing. She's so fierce and strong when she wants to be, yet graceful as gazelle when the occasion demands."

At Els visible confusion the coyote smirked unabashed. Fully aware that he needs to explain it.

"Eh, I may have seen Ellen practicing her dances without her knowing it."

"Durham!"

"What? I didn't mean to! Not entirely though. It sorta happened and, well... she's breathtaking."

Els couldn't help but feel elated that the coyote thought so highly of her friend. That dreamy stare of his was a huge giveaway of how much he fell for the zebra. She was both happy for Ellen and somewhat sad for Durham. Ellen was a very difficult girl even among herbivores. Durham's chances of swaying her heated opinions of carnivores were just nearly nonexistent.

Yet, she wanted him to get a chance to prove Ellen wrong about carnivores, just like Legosi did for the goat.

"Say... does she like Louis?" Durham asked, turning serious as he narrowed his eyes, Els frowned in thought.

"I... think she might? She shares some traits with him, but Louis is... complicated. I can look at Ellen without feeling like I'm being constantly judged."

Durham nodded. He particularly felt the same in that regard. Having Louis undivided attention could be rather unsettling. The coyote had that experience in his first year, he never went near Louis ever since.

The echo of voices reached their ears. It was clear that the actors were rehearsing again.

"We should go back. I kinda need to keep my eyes on their play." Els warned him. He agreed as he started walking back to the source of light alongside the goat.

"Hey, Els?"

"Hmm?"

"I... thank you. You know? For... listening. It's nice to know that there's an herbivore out there that will hear me out."

"You're welcome. Also I'm happy to know there's more than just one Legosi out there."

Durham gasped dramatically at the comparison.

"You just did not compare me with Legosi! Girl, shame on you!" He retorted, pretenting to be offended by her words.

Els laughed at his joke, looking far more comfortable around him this time around.

They both reached the more illuminated stage, watching as Louis repeated the previous scene, although the fight seemed even more fierce this time around.

Had Durham not been much closer this time around, he would've failed to notice Louis strange movements. His running was oddly paced, one leg going further than the other, his sidestepping was wobbly at most of the time. It was plainly obvious something was wrong.

'What's wrong with him? It's like he's either tired or in pain. Did no one adressed this?'

"Hey, Els?" Durham asked while keeping his eyes on the deer. The goat hummed as a response. "Why does Louis looks about to fall over himself?"

Els blinked. She stared at Durham for a second, but since he wasn't looking at her she averted her eyes back to the actors few feet away. She kept her eyes glued on the deer, wondering what Durham was talking about. It was only when Louis clearly struggled to keep on his feet after a short jump that she understood what the coyote was getting at.

"I think he's hurt." She said calmy. "It's that what you saw?"

"Yeah, he seems totally off. Trust me on this, I'm part of the sports club. We have an eye for this sort of stuff. Now I just wonder if it's just muscle fatigue or anything less serious."

Els nodded, internally pleased to know more about the coyote aswell.

"What you two yapping about?" Came the voice of a very familiar tempered herbivore.

Durham only briefly glanced at Ellen this time around, his concern for Louis health more of a priority than dealing with her temper. Els was a totally different story.

"It seems that Louis might be hurt somehow. Didn't you notice him being awkward at any time when he moved?" Els asked anxiously. Ellen was surprised by this question. The red marks on her cheeks became painfully noticeable to any that looked her way.

"Huh, mayyybe? I wasn't really focused on the way he moved." She admitted sheepishly. Durham snorted.

"Probably too busy staring at his butt."

Ellen's temper flared just like an erupting volcano. Els was too busy giggling at his side to notice the danger.

"Hey, fuck you! No one asked your stupid opinion!"

"Judging by your reaction is more like a fact at th-

A fist was halfway to his face before Durham ducked underneath. Ellen's enraged expression was replaced by shock at the sudden dodge.

"What's the matter stripes? Can't hit me?" He mocked, showing off his tongue just to piss her off.

Ellen immediately tried to hit him across the face with an elevated swift kick. He dodged again, although surprised that she could pull that move with such ease. Her elongated legs gave her a nice reach of assault.

"Not bad. I guess all those dancing lessons are finally paying off."

"You're dead meat Durham!" She yelled ferociously. Both Durham and Els widened their eyes at this.

"Ellen, please calm down. It was just a joke." Els pleaded to her friend.

Before the zebra could reply the authoritative voice of the lead actor reached their ears. Durham tensed at feeling the approach of one of his least favorite herbivores.

"What's the meaning of this?! Ellen, explain yourself!" Louis demanded strictly.

Ellen was struck by the way he spoke to her, that unsettling glare of his spook the zebra into absolute silence.

Sensing her silent panic Durham couldn't help but feel obligated to come to her aid.

"Hey, chill deer boy. She didn't do anything. We were just playing around." Durham replied, his challenging smile showing off more teeth than necessary.

Some gasps were heard nearby. Obviously the other members held Louis with a high amount of respect. To hear him being adressed so casually was unheard of.

Louis stared at the coyote, glowering at him with surprising ease.

"I did not ask the carnivore that has no place in this club." He remarked severely. Durham whistled, finding this situation to be quite entertaining.

"Oh, is that so mister Beastar? What you're gonna do then?" The coyote paused, he walked straight up to the deer. Louis tensed, one of his hands moving behind his own back slowly.

That particular movement confirmed what Durham saw during the practice. Louis had a strage volume on his back every time he crouched, at first Durham thought he was seeing things, but he knew that ignoring the signs was a terrible idea. His father taught him well on that regard, now that he tested his theory Durham could play his upper hand on this.

Durham stopped inches away from the male herbivore. He could easily see his own reflection on Louis incredibly big and brightening eyes.

"You have really nice eyes. Not as pretty as Ellen's though." He commented. Louis blinked, confused by this random comment. Ellen heard that, she eyed the coyote with intrigue.

_"Now that we are face to face you don't have to worry. I just wonder what else it will take for you to pull up that gun and shoot me. I'm amazed you haven't done it already."_

Louis jumped back, shocked and fearful for a second. He stared at Durham with incredulity. The coyote could only shrug as a response.

_"H-How?... how did you know?"_ Louis whispered frantically.

_"My father is a cop. He wanted me to follow on his steps. I learned a lot from him. You're not doing the greatest efforts of keeping that hidden every time you shove your deer butt on the air. You should use a leg holster instead. Oh, and how did you hurt your leg?"_

Again Louis rewarded the coyote with an scandalized look of his own.

_"My leg is none of your business. Why you're here anyways?"_

_"My only reason to be here is Ellen, nothing else. I imagine you want me to keep your little secret?"_

Louis tensed. He knew the really bad repercussions that having a gun with him would bring to his future and the academy as a whole.

_"Yes, what do you want with Ellen? She's a problematic individual."_

_"Says you. Shame, I can tell she likes you a ton."_

Louis stance relaxed for a second. Durham wondered if it was sadness that he saw on those beautiful eyes of his. A troubled look on the deer's face as he kept whispering.

_"I'm afraid I'm already commited with someone else. What can I offer for your silence?"_

_"Easy, let me visit the club whenever. We cool?"_

Louis wasn't very keen on the idea of seeing the coyote more often, but it was better than having his secret exposed.

_"Fine, just don't aggravate my members."_

Durham nodded before walking away slowly, much to the confusion of everyone that witnessed the silent face off.

Louis followed the coyote walk away, his glare resting on the zebra standing on his path. Several thoughts raced through his head. He sighed before adressing the other members.

"We're done for today. Back at the same hour tomorrow."

Slowly the other members started preparing to leave, some tried to question the deer but he ignored them.

"What was that all about?" Els asked, perplexed by the confrontation.

"Just me and deer boy catching up. It's not the first time we had a sweet talk." Durham replied, feeling more tired than usual. He nearly forced an herbivore into panic, which could've ended on him getting shot. His mother would be so pissed at him if she knew it.

"You and Louis don't get along?"

Durham was thankful he saw those words coming from her lips, otherwise he would've not believed that it was Ellen who asked.

"Not quite. We just have... different opinions on things." The coyote explained hesitantly.

Ellen nodded slowly, regarding him with a stare that was alien to the coyote.

"Say, I think we should talk. Not during class or here, but outside. If you gonna keep annoying me I just will lose it. Whatever you want to talk about, fine by me. Just don't expect me to be nice or anything of the sort."

Durham couldn't believe it. Ellen was actually giving him a chance to speak?! He would've jumped and singed on utter joy if not for the fact of how embarrassing that would've been.

"Sounds fair. I know a place we can meet up tomorrow." The zebra shrugged.

"Fine, don't be late. Otherwise I will break your stupid face."

Durham didn't doubt of that in the slightest.


	4. Chapter 4 - Sets & Bets

"Hey, Durham. Did you see the new girl that joined the drama club?"

"No? Just because I go there more often it doesn't mean I go around with the gossip. What about it?"

"Get this, the new girl is a gray wolf."

"...and?"

"Whaa...? Really?! Don't you see what this could mean?!"

"No? Honestly I don't think I should either. Why don't you start explaining it to me Jack."

The labrador couldn't help but feel aggravated by the coyote's obtuse response. Ever since Jack joked with Legosi, making his best friend uncomfortable about potential love affairs, he had been feeling excited about who could be the girl that stole his heart. Despite what Durham said a few days back Jack was assured that a girl was involved somehow.

Jack heard from Collot, who heard from Tao, who heard from Kai, who heard from Aoba, who heard from Dom, who heard from Shiira that a female gray wolf has joined the drama club recently. Jack was thinking it to be too much of a coincidence that Legosi's mood changed around the same time that happened.

He felt ecstasy run across his body, hundreds of scenarios playing in his head as he tried to imagine what the wolf girl might look like. Surely she has to be far more interesting than than the other wolf girls, otherwise he couldn't see why Legosi would be so worked up about it.

He wanted to share this exciting occurrence with Durham, but the coyote clearly wasn't that much interested on whoever Legosi might be falling for.

Jack bit his lip apprehensively. He felt conflicted about the way Durham insisted on this weird affection of his for an herbivore. The dog would never discourage his roommate from seeking her attention, but he feared what challenges this would bring to Durham and those around him. Ellen was well known among most herbivores and even some carnivores. The zebra was the closest person to compare to Louis when it came about challenging carnivores upfront. Although Jack wondered if Ellen was only doing that for the sake of impressing Louis.

"Yeah, no thanks. I just thought you would be happy to know Legosi probably has found someone."

Durham shifted his attention from his laptop back to the other canine. His fingers resting still over the keyboard, his mind slowly processing what he's been told.

Personally the coyote didn't care much about who the others were going out with. Sure, it was going to be a huge deal when one of them got a girlfriend, the downside of such achievement being the agreement that the 'lucky' romeo would be on fur cleaning for the rest of their stay at the academy. Durham shivered when thinking about all the mossy fur that usually accumulates on the shower's drain. An awful price to pay for being the first one to find love.

Durham was actually hoping Legosi gets his dream girl before the coyote could sway Ellen out of her speciest bubble.

"Yeah, I mean, I will be happy for him. I just got a lot on my plate to worry about. I actually got Ellen to see me later this afternoon. Hopefully we can talk some sense without her slapping me across the entire campus." He said with a playful smirk. Jack stared at him in disbelief.

"She sounds very... worked up. Is there a reason for her being so incensed?" He asked worriedly. Durham shrugged, not really knowing how to reply to that question.

"What about you? Not going to try your luck with Shiira?"

Jack jolted for a second, his cheeks flushing as he mumbled incoherent words out of his mouth. Durham couldn't help but chuckle at how easily the labrador would fluster about his own crush.

"Yeah, nevermind. I'm sure you will find something to get you going on that. Just don't go into panic when you talk with her. She might look serious most of the time but she's chill once you get a conversation going."

Jack nodded slowly, surprised that Durham actually talked with the cheetah on more than one ocassion. He moved to reorganize his backpack and school uniforms, a quick glance at the coyote as he heard the sound of typing echoing across the room.

"What you're working on?" Jack asked curiously.

"Hmm? Oh, just researching stuff outside the country. Internet sure can broaden your view on the world if you know how to use it." The coyote said distractedly. "Kinda curious to know how herbivores and carnivores get along in different cultures."

"That's actually interesting to look up." Jack said in agreement. The labrador never spared a thought about what life on lands far away might be like. This town and the school was the only world he knew of. "I wonder if their food is even more eccentric than ours."

Durham rolled his eyes. Typical Jack thinking about food varieties when it came about new stuff. Although the coyote had to agree with him on that regard, different options could provide something tastier than the blandness of most of the processed food the carnivores have to eat.

"Hey, have you seen Collot? I borrowed him my periodics tab. Kinda gonna need that really soon." Jack asked as he started packing books inside his backpack.

Durham yawned before replying. He was never an early riser and the Sports club schedule only brought him nightmares.

"Dunno. Haven't seen fuzzball since last night. How he even can read anything with that furry jungle on his face is beyond me. He never heard of trimming? I know he does it, but I never understood why he keeps his eyes sealed off." Durham replied quizzically. Jack laughed, amused at the mention of Collot's particularity.

"It's part of his charm." The labrador responded nonchalantly.

"How so?"

"Well... what's the thing in Ellen that you find yourself looking at the most? _Please don't say her butt._" Jack added while whispering.

"She has a nice striped ass." Durham retorted cheekily.

Jack gasped rather dramatically. The coyote bursted out in laughter, enjoying seeing the scandalized look on the usually innocent and pure labrador.

"Oh, come on Jacky boy! You know I'm joking! Also, did you really think I wouldn't hear you talking under your breath? These pointy ears of mine aren't just for show." The coyote pointed straight at the aforementioned appendages. "You know, the great hearing all of us canines have? Well, lots of animals actually, but that's besides the point."

"Y-Yeah, I guess you got a point." Jack replied after calming down his nerves. "But going back to what I was saying..."

"Hmmm, I guess... her eyes. Yeah, that's what most amazes me about her. Big blueish eyes that shine like a diamond under the moonlight. Yeah..."

Jack couldn't help the smile on his face as he watched the coyote's gaze waver into dream land. He never saw Durham ever get enamoured about anything or anyone. None of them ever did actually, at least until recently. The way Durham reacted when thinking about his crush was far different from the way Jack or Legosi behaved when confronted with their own thoughts about their love interests. Neither Jack nor Legosi allowed themselves to express their feelings when such thoughts surfaced, but Durham had no worry whatsoever letting it show how he felt.

"... and powerful muscles with enough strenght to break my bones like twigs."

Jack could only give him a deadpanned look as a response.

"What?" Durham asked, noticing the look on his roommate's face after few seconds of awkward silence. "I'm into strong, independent girls... sorta."

Jack snorted. He had no comment for that. Durham, much to the dog's surprise, wiggled his eyebrows at him.

"Hey Jack, how you think Shiira will feel when you get to see her naked?"

"W-What?! What are you talking about?! I would never-

"Never what? See her naked? Bro, if you're really interested on her you do realize you will be getting the whole package, right? What do you think couples do for fun aside talking feelings and shit? You gotta understand at some point Shiira will want to _play_ with you. Yes, I mean that in the exact way it sounds."

"Huh, uhhh, I... damn. I'm not sure. I don't even see how I will get her to talk with me."

"Hey, I got Ellen to open up a bit. After getting my ass handed to me a couple of times unfortunately. You gotta make sacrifices if you want to conquer the girl. You could try asking around. Maybe Els can help you too."

Jack frowned. While he appreciated Durham's encouragement the dog was weary of asking other students. He was well aware that the other students knew him well enough to be suspicious if the labrador started asking around about a girl.

"You think Els can be trusted? I mean, she's pretty close to Shiira from what I heard." Jack asked with a tinge of nervousness. Durham dismissed his concerns with a wave of hand.

"Yeah, nothing to worry. She's close to Ellen too but I know she won't give me away. I can introduce you if you're not feeling confident about it." The coyote offered sympathetically.

"No, no, no. I... need to do this on my own." Jack replied thoughtfully. "I... yeah, I need to do this. I guess you're right. I need to, well... grow up."

Durham couldn't help the amusement he felt at seeing his friend becoming determinate on bettering himself for the sake of his love interest. It would do wonders for Jack's self esteem on the long run, the labrador always shied away from whatever girl came up to talk with him. To see him mustering strenght to be the one on the initiative side was quite admirable.

"Well, I gotta say you're on the right path for a more interesting life. I would love to chat more but I have to go for my Biology class. Ellen is in it, but I don't think we will get any talk going. She's usually surrounded by a pack of herbivores in this specific class."

The coyote powered down his laptop before shoving it back into his suitcase. Durham was weary every time he opened the case, fully aware of the fake cover that contained hideous things underneath. He was thankful none of his roomates were nosy about other's stuff.

He closed the case, randomly scrambling the lock combination numbers that were built within the material. A convenient safety mechanism despite his trust on his friends. Some things you could never be too sure.

Without sparing a second thought he slipped into his shoes. He hated the School's choice for pattern uniforms, while the shirts and pants were alright, the shoes always felt uncomfortable. He was constantly working his toe claws so they wouldn't grow in a way that would either pierce the material or hurt him somehow. He was thankful for every Sports activity and the weekends, slipping into snickers was immensely refreshing after hours of going from class to class with these bothersome boring looking shoes.

"Oh, sure! Thanks for the advice Durham. I mean it." The dog sighed, a sad smile on his face that intrigued the coyote.

"What's the matter?" Durham asked after a quick glance, his attention going from Jack to his backpack. 'I hope I don't forget my notes this time. I don't feel like going back for afterclass.'

"It's just... do you think Legosi would've done this?" Jack asked slowly. Durham raised an eyebrow, his expression demanding a more specific inquiry. "I mean... you think Legosi would've helped me with girl issues?"

Durham's immediate answer would've been 'no'. The coyote was pretty sure Legosi couldn't help himself on that matter, imagine others. Yet, Legosi was mostly an enigma for Durham, he knew almost nothing of the wolf aside a couple likes and a hobbie or two. He couldn't say for certain that Legosi wouldn't try to help Jack on that regard.

"Well, even if Legosi isn't an expert I can say for sure he would've been willing to help you. You both are best friends after all."

That answer seemed enough to ease Jack's doubts. The labrador smiled in agreement, his eyes focusing at the coyote with some intrigue.

"Yeah, you're right... say Durham... do you have a best friend?"

The coyote shook his head.

"Nah, never needed if I had to be honest about it. I like the friends I have, never will one be above the other. I like you all the same."

"That's... really nice." Jack spoke slowly, surprised and touched by his words. "I wish I had known you sooner." Durham snorted.

_'No, Jack. Be thankful you didn't.'_

"Well, but we did. Regardless of time." Durham replied cheerfully. The coyote's smile felt heavy all of sudden, he realized how much more difficult it was for him to put up a mask over himself. He wasn't really lying to Jack about anything, but it pained him to think the 'what ifs' of that could've happened by meeting any of his friends before the academy.

It was also painful for Durham to think about the friends that he lost before moving into the campus. Legosi might be enigmatic, but Durham was well aware that the wolf wasn't the only one with things to keep under the carpet.

"I'm heading out. See you around?" He asked while adjusting his backpack. Jack nodded.

"Yeah, I will be out soon. Take care." He advised. Durham chuckled.

"If I die out there you can start asking a certain zebra about my corpse." He joked before leaving the dormitory, his smile widened as he heard Jack's laughter echoing acroos the room.

Closing the door smoothly Durham found himself on a rather busy hallway. Most students from the carnivore male dorms were already on their way for classes. The coyote recognized few familiar faces as he greeted them while walking by. He made his way for the staircase that connected the male dorms to the female dorms.

For whatever reason the building design was made in a way that the students have to exit through the staircase, go all the way to the first floor, then exit the building and make their way to the main structure of the campus that was only a few dozen meters away. It was unclear why the dorms weren't connected with the main building.

Durham found himself walking downstairs alone, it surprised him considering this was the only way to reach outside. His heavy steps ringing into his ears, he turned around for the last set, his eyes immediately locked into a student that was climbing the exact set. His eyes narrowed as he realized it was a female gray wolf.

He wasn't sure why she was going up. This would take her into the male dorms and that wasn't a very good idea. While it wasn't exactly forbidden it wasn't deemed safe either.

"Huh, hey. Where you going?" He asked her as he stopped at her side. The girl looked at him and Durham was taken aback by the gorgeous and sizable amethyst eyes the wolf has.

"Oh, I was looking for someone. I'm not sure they went this way." She replied hesitantly.

She was about the same size as him and, despite the bland school uniform, Durham could tell this girl was well built on the right places. Her fur was somewhat red brownish. A color he couldn't exactly precise, her tail was wiggling slowly as she regarded him on a rather shy manner.

"What's their name? I can go look up if you want. Not really a good idea to walk by yourself into male territory." Durham joked.

The girl seemed thoughtful for a second. The coyote's words probably made sense for her.

"Yeah, I suppose. I had enough awful interactions with males for these last days, except for one." She said with a sad smile that caught Durham's curiosity.

"Really? Well, I hope I can make that two. Name's Durham by the way." The coyote said as he offered his hand for a greeting. The girl shook it without hesitation. 'Smooth and strong hands.'

"Nice to meet you. My name's Juno. I'm a first year. Actually joined this semester." She explained, looking more cheerful all of sudden.

"This semester? Explains how I never saw such beauty around way before." He teased. Juno giggled nervously, playing with the fur on her cheek with one of her hands. Durham wondered if this was an habit of hers. "I'm a second year, which would mean I'm your senior and blah blah blah, I don't really care about that crap."

Juno's eyes widened in surprise. It was unusual for a student to disregard the senior system so blatantly.

"Oh, is... that alright?" She asked worriedly.

"Hey, as far I'm concerned you're old enough to tell right from wrong. Old enough to make life decisions and understand society and whatnot. I can help you if you're having difficulties to adjust to the environment, but you don't have to act like I'm your dad or something like that. We're all the same here and a couple years of difference on age doesn't mean shit to me."

Juno stared. She wasn't sure she ever heard any animal be this blunt about his own take on the world around him. The coyote wasn't looking worried in the slightest, his carefree attitude when talking about such things caught her attention without a doubt.

"That's... very straight to the point." Juno said slowly, regarding the coyote more thoughtfully. "Huh, are you in any clubs?"

"Yeah, sports. You?"

"Drama club."

Durham felt something click as regarded the wolf more carefully. Didn't Jack mentioned about a wolf girl that joined the club recently? Could this Juno possibly be the one that Legosi was falling for? At least that's what Jack thinks.

"Say, do you know Legosi?"

The way Juno's face illuminated like a Christmas tree was all the confirmation Durham needed.

"Yes! Isn't he so amazing? He helped me the other day when I was in trouble. Never thought I would find such a gentlewolf."

Durham couldn't believe the absolutely lovestruck and passionate way she spoke about Legosi. This girl has her head way over the clouds about it. Durham didn't think he looked this way when thinking about Ellen, nor he should. Juno was looking way too into it to be deemed reasonable.

"Oh, yeah. He's my roomate. He's a nice guy." The coyote spoke while carefully observing her reaction. Juno immediately broke from her trance, she looked at him in a way that made Durham very uncomfortable.

"Really?! You think... did he mentioned me?"

"Huh, you see. He doesn't talk much. Legosi is hard to talk since he keeps his thoughts mostly to himself, which is fine to be fair." The coyote explained, not really liking how the wolf was inching closer to his face. "Juno, personal space please."

The girl blinked, realizing the sudden closeness between their faces. She took a few steps back sheepishly. With her fur color it was impossible to tell if she was blushing, although the fur on her muzzle and long neck was white.

Durham would be lying to himself if he didn't think the wolf looked adorable, but he got worried due the naivety she expressed when talking about her crush on Legosi. She barely knew anything about him and clearly was worked up about a brief encounter they had.

"Hey, just take it easy, alright? You look really nice, just don't obsess too much over him. Legosi ain't easy to get by. It took a lot to get him to open up, he's quite shy so don't be too straightforward, you might end up just scaring him." He advised, genuinely worried for her and his roommate.

Juno seemed conflicted, probably she did not expected to hear that Legosi was a shy type. It didn't look like that the first time she met him.

"I... will try. Thanks Durham. I'm glad to know there's more animals out there that don't hate my kind." She said rather slyly. Durham snorted.

"Just don't mind these idiots. Typical insecure fools that can't see the bigger picture. Say, we might talk again soon. I do go to the drama club from time to time."

At this the wolf was clearly confused.

"How so? I thought you were in the sports club."

"Yeah, but I go there to talk with some friends, and check on my crush." He added with a smirk.

"Ooohh... but... I don't remember seeing any female coyotes there."

Durham glowered at her. That stereotypical way of thinking was something he despised immensely. Juno immediately realized her mistake as she noticed his expression.

"No. I never said it was a coyote. Is that going to be a problem?" He asked unamused. Juno fidgeted for a second before replying.

"Huh, no. I just... it's just... aren't you worried?'

"About what?"

"Well, if you date outside your species... wouldn't people ostracize you for it?"

Much to Juno's confusion and incredulity Durham just laughed at her concerns.

"Ha! Is that it?! I'm supposed to bend over and accept some nobodies opinions and feelings about who I'm supposed to love?! You really want to know what I think?! Fuck people! I love whoever I want! If they got a problem with it that's their problem. I'm not gonna let some society contriving bullshit dictate my life."

Juno was shocked by his response. She had grown under the constant influence of current culture, that it was hideous to have a relationship outside her own kin, that she stopped entertaining that idea many years ago. The constant abuse she suffered due being a gray wolf only solidified her belief that only one of her own kind would truly love her. To see a coyote speak so strongly against this concept brought back long buried doubts into her head.

"I'm... not sure I can do that. Not if..."

"If what?" The coyote asked, noticing the tension that was building up on her. "If it's a secret you don't have to tell me. I won-

"I want to be a Beastar."

Durham immediately quieted down.

"I want to make things better. Especially for us carnivores. I don't want for people to abuse others because they are different. I want to help make our society better."

Durham sighed. This was not the first time he heard such things. Working for a noble goal was admirable, but just like his father, Durham knew that this girl would be destroyed by the system currently in place. He couldn't help but feel pity towards her.

"Juno... being a Beastar... you are willing to give up being you? Just to be something you're truly not?" Durham asked, looking at her with genuine concern. The girl blinked, unsure of what to make of this question.

"I want to help others."

"Does it necessarily means you have to be a Beastar to help anyone?"

"I... don't know. Isn't that the best way?"

"Hey, don't take me wrong when I say this, but... Beastars have been around for years. None of them managed to stop predation from happening and the growing mistrust and division of carnivores and herbivores. We have a good number of Beastars, so... why we keep watching people dying? Why are we afraid of walking alone on a campus? Why can't we love without being judged? When has a Beastar ever made any significant change regarding our culture?"

Juno remained quiet, her eyes lowering towards the ground. She looked absolutely defeated at this point. Durham hated to crush her hopes, but he would hate it even more to see her life being wasted doing something that wouldn't bring any sort of significant change whatsoever.

His father knew how Beastars operated, how they acted upon crisis, and ever since Durham despised them and their underserved significance.

Much to her shock (and Durham's own) he hugged her. His head rested on one of her shoulders, he hoped the gesture brought her some sense of care. It was never his intent to demoralize her.

"You don't have to be a famous person to make things better. Small acts of kindness go a long way. Making people smile and feel cared about is enough to make things better. Show that you care and they will care about you. You don't need the whole world to accept you. Just the love from few will give you enough of a sense of accomplishment."

Juno didn't reply. The silence stretched for few seconds, at least until the sounds of footsteps alerted both for the income of other students. Durham slowly retracted from her, quietly observing the wolf as she stared back at him. Something in the way she looked at him gave the coyote enough assurance that he made the right call.

"We should get going. See you around?" Durham asked bashfully, suddenly feeling self conscious of what just happened.

"Yeah... see you." She replied quietly before turning around hesitantly. It looked like she wanted to say something, but as soon the other students reached the top of the stairs she walked away at a reasonable pace.

"Durham? Why you still here?" Asked the unmistakable voice of Jack. Durham turned around to regard him and Collot standing near the labrador.

"Oh, hey guys. I was just talking with this wolf girl." He replied enigmatically. Jack blinked.

"Wait, wolf girl? Here? Wait, wait, wait... was that the one I talked you about?!"

"Oh, the one of the drama club?" Collot asked without delay. His excitement evident despite being impossible to tell his expression. "You think she came after Legosi?"

_'That would explain why she was here.'_ Thought Durham as he waited for his roomates to join him. "Yeah, I guess that was her. We didn't talk much though. She was in a hurry." He lied. Jack immediately looked at him, looking skeptical right away.

"You sure?" Asked Jack with a frown on his face. Durham huffed.

"Yes Jack, I can tell for myself the amount of time that goes as I talk with someone. Are you done being nosy?" He replied with annoyance.

"Oh, sorry. I was just curious." He apologized with a guilty expression. Durham hated to lie to Jack, but Juno's conversation concerned no one.

"Let's get going. I have a long day ahead anyways."


	5. Chapter 5 - Reveals & Renewed

"You're late."

"Piss off!"

"...what happened? You're not usually this angry without a reason."

"What does it matter to you? It's not like you're stuck here anyways."

"Ellen... we came here to talk. We're not getting anywhere if we don't tell the other what's going on."

"This doesn't matter."

"...if that was true you wouldn't be fuming ever since I saw you walk out of the building, go all the way across the gardens, and reach this specific bench with the shittiest attitude possible."

"Urgh! Are you always straight to the point?! You sound like an ass at times."

"I rather sound like an ass than waste your time with nonsensical bullshit. There ain't nothing more disrespectful than wasting people's time."

Ellen quieted down for a moment. She regarded the coyote with the slightest amount of surprise and fascination. Durham was quickly becoming one of the strangest animals she ever met.

Not that he hasn't already. Ever since the day he stepped on her the coyote has been trending around with that witty attitude of his. She wasn't sure how to react to him, he seemed like an arrogant ass at first that wished nothing but to annoy her. Yet, the more she saw him, the less she could understand what he was trying to accomplish.

"Why you don't sit down? We will be here for some time." He suggested while indicating the vacant part of the wooden bench with a nod. The zebra hesitated.

Durham realized she was weary of getting closer, but it was not clear if because she didn't like him or because she didn't trust him. Perhaps he would have to talk her into it.

"Hey, if you don't wanna sit near me that's fine. Still, where are on a rather open area of the campus, anyone can see us from any angle at any distance. You don't have to worry about me turning into a freak and advancing on you. Besides, I'm pretty sure you can own me any day of the week if I tried." He chuckled to himself.

Ellen eyed him with mixed feelings. He guessed right when thinking her to be worried, but not because he is a carnivore that could go berserk at any second.

"I don't want people to think too much of this if they see us sitting on a bench by ourselves. You know that would create a lot of weird rumours and, yeah, I would beat you up if you tried anything."

_'At least she's being truthful about the way she feels.' _Durham thought, not really feeling more at ease about it.

Much to his surprise she decided to sit down, slowly but surely. Durham kept his eyes forward, the temptation to look at her from this close made him uneasy. It occurred to him that this was the first time ever an herbivore took a seat near him. Sure, he remembered the recreation times that Jack and Legosi used to play chess or checkers. Very rarely they played with other herbivores but, ever since the news of the increase of predation incidents around town reached the flat screens, the herbivores avoided them constantly.

He remembered how upset Jack was at one of those ocassions, him and Legosi were playing checkers with two herbivore classmates. Durham was just watching the match with uninterest, his head was way over the clouds thinking about Ellen. It just happened that a television was on nearby and they were broadcasting a recent murderer of a female gazelle.

Durham wasn't unfamiliar with the predation cases that happened around town, but he wouldn't deny that his blood would boil at each time he saw that the victim was a female. It was bad enough to attack herbivores that were already naturally weaker, but a female was completely defenseless in such situations. It was nothing but pure cowardice in the coyote's view.

_'Not Ellen.' _Durham thought, feeling some weird sense of pride about it. '_She's tough and can break anyone's teeth if they as much look at her the wrong way. Must be an equine thing.'_

"Sooo... what do you want to talk about?" Ellen asked nervously, her eyes looking around for anyone that may be watching over them. Durham blinked as he was brought back from the depths of his mind.

It was a good question that he wasn't sure how to reply. There were many things he wanted to talk right away but, for the first time in many months, the coyote was feeling hesitant to talk with someone.

"How did you end up in the Drama club?" He asked after a moment of reflection. The zebra crossed her arms, looking thoughtful and anxious for a moment.

"Well, it wasn't simple, but I got rather lucky I think. Shiira was the one to vouch for me after I was randomly scouted. I guess I wasn't really expecting to join any clubs at that time. I did think about joining the sports club thought."

Ellen paused as she heard a rather comical moan coming from the canine. She eyed him quizzically.

"Don't mind me. It's just sad to hear we were that close from being in the same club." He replied, a tinge of frustration evident on his voice. Ellen snorted through her nostrils, which was very unladylike but she didn't care.

"It was a big _might_. I... do love sports. Personally my favorite sport is volleyball. It's just..."

Durham decided to abandon his fake sightseeing and threw a sidelong glance at her, it was evident that something had Ellen distraught, but he could only guess whatever reason made her turn away from something she likes.

"It's alright. You don't have to say it if you don't want to. We all can-

"I didn't join because there were only carnivores in that volley team."

Durham felt whatever words of empathy he had die on his throat. The moment turned extremely awkward, that response gave him a dreadful feeling he wished he could ignore. He pondered carefully his next words as to not upset her even further.

"Were you... anxious of being in that group?" He asked slowly. Ellen shook her head, the sadness on her eyes gripped Durham's heart like an iron fist.

"No, I... was afraid... of being alone there."

Durham blinked. Ellen? Afraid? Did he heard that right? There's no way such a badass girl would be afraid of anything!

Or maybe he was so infatuated by her strong personality that he was putting her far above any doubt?

She may be strong and fierce, but at the end of every day she was still a female herbivore. She wouldn't last against powerful carnivores like tigers, lions, wolfs and whatnot.

"Is that how you cope with it?" Durham found himself asking aloud after pondering about what the zebra admitted. Ellen turned her head to the side to reward him with a confused glare. "You are aggressive for the sake of overcoming that fear?"

Her stunned silence wasn't the reaction that Durham was expecting nor telling on any way. Perhaps she hadn't realize that it may be the main reason for her imposing attitude?

"Actually, no. That kind of thing is something that has been in my blood fam-

She suddenly cut herself short. Looking away from the coyote, a pained look on her face that she didn't want anyone to see. Durham was clearly confused by this.

"Stripes? Is everything alright?" He asked worriedly. He wasn't sure what had her so worked up, but he would be lying to himself if he didn't personally admit that Ellen was about to mention her family.

Ellen's sudden distraught was brought to a halt due Durham's strange adressing of her person.

"Stripes?" She asked, keeping the back of her head facing him. "What is that supposed to mean? I heard you saying it before but I didn't pay any mind to it." The coyote frowned, fully aware that she was trying to change the subject.

"Eh, what else? You're a zebra." Durham chuckled at her obliviousness. "You're all about those beautiful stripes that cover your body. It's the most amazing thing to look at. Well, aside your eyes." He added sheepishly.

Ellen's ears perked slowly, her head rotating enough to throw him a sideways glance.

"M-My eyes?... what do you see on them?"

Durham realized he had gotten her attention for good this time. How he did it he wasn't sure, but it seems Ellen is actually listening intently to what he's about to say. Although he wished to know why she got so upset a moment ago.

He breathed in deeply. It was time to get serious. Well, more than usual.

"I see many things. It really depends on what I'm really looking for. Superficially speaking you have pale blue eyes that spark like sapphires under any source of light. If I were to look deep I would find a strong, confident, and challenging soul willing to take on anything that was thrown her way. There's also lots of mistrust and... resentment. Why? I'm not sure. I just hope it has nothing to do with who or what I am."

Ellen actually faced him with both eyes. Jaw slightly agape, the disbelief on her expression was nearly comical if not for the seriousness of the moment.

"I... don't know what to say." She eyed the coyote more carefully. For the first time she took note of his fur patterns, his lackadaisical posture, the length of his tail, the size of his ears, the color of his eyes. The strenght of the visible muscles. His pointed teeth and and rather lenghty claws. "What is this supposed to mean? What do you want from me?"

The coyote shrugged. He knew what he wanted, but things needed to work at its own pace.

"Friendship." He replied serenely. "No more avoiding me just because I'm sharp around the edges." Ellen snorted at the cheap change of phrasing. "I actually want to know more about you. I'm not lying when I say you're pretty interesting to be with, just don't think of it as some sort of infatuation or omnious carnivore desire. No, it's just me, Durham, wanting to be friends with someone he likes."

Ellen looked surprised by his intention. She was expecting him to admit feelings of some sort, but this option wasn't less difficult for her anyways.

"I don't actually think that's really that bad." She conceded hesitantly. "I just worry of what my friends might think of it."

Durham raised an eyebrow.

"Why would your friends object about you having another friend?"

"I don't make friends with carnivores." She replied duly.

The coyote bristled at her response. So much for trying to be nice and approachable. He liked her attitude but this was getting ridiculous.

"Is that so?" He replied dryly. "Then if me being a carnivore upsets you so much I can go hang myself somewhere to save you the trouble."

Ellen jolted in shock at the seriouness on his voice. Her eyes widened as she found herself under his withering glare.

"T-That's not what I-

She cut herself short as Durham stood up, his arms crossed as he stared her down with something akin to disappointment.

"Not _what_?! I get it. You can't trust a savage like me. After all, nothing I say matters as long I have sharp teeth and claws. Well, can't really blame you to have such biased opinions. You probably grew up with your parents stuffing your head with this predation stuff."

Ellen went stiff for a second, jolting from her seat right after. She brought her arm on a slashing motion, delivering a strong slap across the coyote's face.

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TALK SHIT ABOUT MY PARENTS! IT'S THANK TO YOUR DAMN KIND THAT THEY ARE DEAD! I SPENT MOST MY LIFE ON AN ORPHANAGE! YOU COME HERE THINKING YOU KNOW BETTER BUT YOU DON'T H-

Ellen's shouting died out as Durham placed a hand on her muzzle. She glowered at his audacity, already preparing herself to punch him senseless. Yet, she paused as she realized that her previous attack cut a wound across his cheek, the fur around the injury reddening slowly as the canine kept his eyes on her. The sight of blood paralyzed her on the spot.

Durham breathed in deeply, the stinging on his cheek becoming rather annoying as he tried to gather his thoughts. The slap was so fierce that it made him dizzy for a couple seconds. He gathered his bearing slowly, his hand was still hanging over the zebra's muzzle. Her breath was incredibly hot and intense as she breathed in and out at a rapid rythm.

Despite being dazzled he was still able to hear her words with clarity. He finally understood why there was so much hatred of her part towards carnivores. Her parents most likely fell victims of a predation attack, the mere thought of it made him nauseous. Why? Why these things had to happen? Why was their society so fucked up?

Durham slowly retracted his hand from over her mouth. Her eyes narrowed at him in utter disgust. Such expression on her face made him extremely guilty and angry at himself. Perhaps being straightforward about things wasn't exactly always the best way to go.

He turned back towards the bench, sitting back on it sluggishly. He felt inexplicably tired, the stinging on his cheeck lessening as the awkward seconds went by. His eyes fixated at his own feet as he decided on what to do.

"I guess... since you told me something about your family... is only fair I tell you about mine."

Ellen blinked. She was fully expecting him to slash back at her, make nasty remarks of some sort, even try to defend his own kind about what happened with her family. She did not expect him to just sulk back to the bench, look at his shoes with a defeated expression on his face. The offer of sharing more about himself surprised her, she wasn't sure how to respond to this. Durham wasn't acting like a carnivore as she always believed they would.

"Durham... I did not mean to say earlier that I do not want to be friends with carnivores. I just don't have any carnivore friends, so having one all of sudden would make my friends uneasy." She said impassively. The coyote took her words in with some bitterness.

"Yeah. I guess I jumped to conclusions too quickly. Guess I'm an hypocritical piece of shit now." He admitted with a sad laugh. Ellen frowned at his negative attitude, it did not fit him in the slightest.

He sighed heavily, both of his hands hanging at the back of his head, a thoughtful look on his face as he stared into the empty grass field ahead of them.

"This might take a few minutes, and... I never talked about this with anyone... you mind keeping this between us?" He asked with a expectant glance aimed at the zebra. She bit her lip apprehensively before a slow nod in return.

"I will. Just keep what I told you between us too." She requested firmly.

"Fair. Huh... do you want to sit down? This will be a rather lengthy reveal." He suggested nervously. Ellen decided to take his word for it, even if sitting down felt more of a struggle this time around.

"Okay." Durham started once the zebra got more comfortable as she took a place by his side. "Let's start with some simple events before I break it down to you. I'm not really bothered to talk about this, but I probably wouldn't care to mention it if I had not a good reason to." He said with a greater amount of seriousness. Ellen merely assented his words with a head motion despite the coyote's eyes being closed. "So... to give you the simple stuff. My mother shot my father when I was a kid, she did it because he tried to eat me."

"WHAT?! What you're talking about?! You're a carnivore! Why would h-

"Would you let me finish?!" The coyote cut her outburst short. The zebra quieted down once she realized the edge on his voice. Still, the shock and disbelief on her face was plainly visible. "She killed him to save me. Why? Well, it took me a long time to understand why. I was pretty young and barely could perceive the world around me. He... was a good person. I know he loved me at some point..."

Durham paused. Talking about this was taking a lot more of him than he could've expected. He never saw himself as the emotional type, but thinking about the suffering his mother went through would always ache his heart.

Ellen seemed to sense his distress, her mind still struggling to absorb this absurdity she never heard of before. Her adoptive parents always talked about the dangers that carnivores could represent to the herbivore kind, but never they mentioned the case of carnivores predating their own kind. Also, how could a parent try to eat their own child?!

"Mother saw what was happening though. He changed as the years went by. More arguments, fights, rather violent reactions. It was only when he harassed her once that she decided to prepare for the worse. I was a bit alienated from what was happening, even if I noticed that my father looked a lot more angry. One night he came back, crashed through the door with unbelievable strenght. I remember that his eyes... they were red... that was probably the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life. I ran off up the stairs, he chased after me without hesitation. As soon I reached the hall my mother came out of her room, she had a pistol in her hand, a heavy caliber one. She waited for father to show up at the top of the stairs, he almost grabbed my ankle with his teeth... as soon he stopped to look at her, she shot him... the bang was so loud that my ears were ringing for minutes. I didn't see anything else, she hugged me tight and took me to my room. I was there for a long time, trying to understand what just happened. The cops showed up later on. Mother entered the room with an officer at her side."

Durham paused again. Allowing himself to breath in to ease his nerves. Ellen was unusually quiet at his side. He wasn't sure what she was going to think of this, but he at least hoped she could understand him better.

"We moved from the house to spend a few days on an hotel. I asked mother about my father, wondering if he was alright. I stopped asking after I noticed that every time I asked she would start crying. It... it really messed me up a bit. I never knew what became of him until a few months later. We visited his graveyard after I insisted on it. Mother was reluctant, but that officer that she went dating a few days before I started bothering her, he agreed that we should do it... it's weird to think that guy became my stepfather two years later."

Durham finally opened his eyes. His view became blurry and he immediately realized that he hadn't being able to hold his feelings on the matter.

"So, yeah." He sniffed. "I found out the reason of why my father went wild. My stepfather found out that dad was visiting questionable places a few months before. Somehow he got involved with the meat market and blood trafficking. It didn't make sense to me on how he ended up at such place or crime activity, he worked as a medic on the local hospital. I... I don't understand _why._"

He couldn't help the whimper that escaped his muzzle. His eyes closing again as he felt a torrent of emotions overwhelm him.

"I'm scared too Ellen. I don't wanna become a monster. I don't want to hurt people I care about... I wouldn't be able to live up with myself if I did."

He felt a hand land on his shoulder, the sudden and unexpected touch forced to him to open his eyes, finding himself staring back at mesmerizing blue irises reflecting his own. Ellen was crouched in front of him, her face no longer displaying anger or suspicion, but a huge amount of empathy.

"I didn't think that was possible." She whispered softly at him. He blinked, surprised to hear this kind of tone coming from her. "I guess I never stopped to think what carnivores might go through when it comes about predation. I... suppose you're right when you accused me of being biased."

"Nah, you have plenty of reason to think like that." He chuckled darkly before frowning. "I'm sorry about your parents Ellen."

The zebra's hand moved from his shoulder and went for his injured cheeck. Her fingers brushed with care around the injury, her eyes heavy with sorrow and guilt.

"I'm sorry for, well... this and your father. I... maybe we should try to talk more often? I... wouldn't mind being your friend." She suggested, a blush on her face that made the coyote smirk unintentionally.

"Oh, that sounds about right." He replied, feeling lighter already. "How about next biology class?" Ellen giggled at his reply.

Durham felt elated all of sudden. Ellen actually giggled at something he said! Although he wasn't sure why.

"Sounds fine. Maybe we should get going? Is getting dark." She advised, lending both her hands to help him stand up. He took them without hesitation.

_'Damn, her hands are so soft.' _He couldn't help but think. _'I hope we get to do this again.'_

It was indeed getting darker, the sun was setting on the horizon. The lamps were lighting up across the campus, not a single soul on view.

"Ellen." Durham said as he stoop up in front of her, suddenly realizing how tall the zebra is. "Do you leave the club usually too late?"

"Hm, not really. Me and Els go back a bit earlier than the rest. The carnivores usually leave later. Why?" She asked, genuinely curious by his inquiry.

"I might offer to make you company on late hours if you want to. This place is dangerous at night, especially after what happened with Tem." He explained, his eyes searched for any sign of movement at the nearest treeline. "You never know these days. Not that I don't think you can't take care of yourself, but I would be more at peace knowing you're not alone at such hours."

Ellen was surprised by his offer of guarding her. Never she would've imagined a carnivore would look after her individual safety.

"That sounds really nice. I might... think about it." She replied, unsure of how to take it. Durham nodded.

"Just make sure you're never alone. I don't want to see you getting hurt."

Ellen felt something swivel inside her chest. Something about the way Durham said those words got her heart started for whatever reason.

"I promise. You better take care of that wound also." She said awkwardly enough.

"Oh, don't swear about it." He replied cheerfully to ease her guilt. "I had worse gashes from the tackles I suffer during training."

Ellen nodded quietly. Both of them were walking back to the dorms, a few other students finally appearing on their view after a long stretching silence. The sun finally dissapeared from the sky, the lights from the street lamps and buildings now their new source of light.

"Say, the summer festival will be in a few days." Ellen started slowly. Durham smiled to himself, already imagining where she was going with this. "Do you wanna come? We will be performing and all. It might be fun."

"This sounds suspiciously like a date." He teased her. Ellen rolled her tongue at him as a response. "How mature."

"Whatever. Do you want to come or not?" She asked again. She clearly got annoyed with his teasing. Durham found it funny how easy it was to push her buttons.

"Sure thing. I would love to see you dance."

Ellen's face lit up like a bonfire at his reply. She muttered under her breath, a pout on her face that the coyote found unbelievable adorable.

"Yeah, fine. Just try to not be a jerk for this next few days. Otherwise I might change my mind about this."

"What you're talking about? I'm innocent!"

"You wish."

**_A/N:_ Normally I wouldn't do any notes but I want to thank all the viewer/reviewers so far. You folks are a huge motivation factor for me and I cannot express enough how it helps me keep going. I'm fully invested in this story. Hopefully I can get more going once I have a PC to work with. This chapter was particularly challenging despite only having two characters featured. As you noticed the updates are weekly. No changes on that regard. Until next week folks and stay healthy.**


	6. Chapter 6 - Tasteless Words

"What happened with you? Why there's a mark on your cheek?"

"It's just the med. Got a nasty scratch yesterday. No biggie."

"Dude, that's kinda very noticeable. Didn't they have anything without color mark?"

"Nah. I will be fine Miguno. Shouldn't you be more concerned about getting those glasses?"

"Well... yes. Still, what happened? That looks like it was a nasty wound."

"I would give you a guess, but I think I will let Jack take that one."

A groan was heard nearby. Durham chuckled as he observed his labrador roomate make his way towards them, looking like he did not want to get involved despite his approach.

"Let me guess then." He started, eyeing the coyote with nothing short of disbelief. "She actually slapped you across the campus."

"Bingo. Glad you reminded that detail." Durham replied with a satisfied smirk. "Although I did not went airborne. Her slap was so strong that it managed to cut a wound on my cheek. That girl ain't no joke."

"I can imagine." Jack stared thoughtfully at his roommate, wondering how far this pursuit of his would last. "How did it go?" The coyote shrugged.

"We're friends now."

"Wait, what?! You got injured and still managed to become friends with an herbivore?" Miguno asked, shocked by the reveal. Durham narrowed his eyes at the dumbstruck hyena.

"How do you know she is an herbivore? Last I checked only Jack knows about this." Durham asked, eyes shifting towards a very guilty-looking labrador. "Jaaaaacck."

Jack bit his lip, looking away in utter shame. Durham sighed, he should've expected as much.

"Well, at least only Miguno kn-

"Hey, Durham!"

The coyote paused, his attention shifting towards Voss and Collot, both had just entered the room.

"What?"

"How did your date went? You finally got a girlfriend?" Voss asked, looking extremely smug for a fox of his size. Collot laughed cheerfully at his side.

"Kinda surprised it's Durham. I was betting on Legosi or Jack." The shepherd said, sounding slightly disappointed. "Oh, well. Better late than never."

Durham felt his blood going cold. He wouldn't be surprised if his own face looked murderous right now. His attention shifting back to Jack, dark thoughts clouded his mind as he wondered how to deal with this betrayal.

Jack seemed to realize the danger, he raised both hands on a surrender gesture. His panicked expression was enough proof of his crime.

"I-I did not want to tell them I swear! I kinda said you were out to see someone last night and they pestered me about it! I-I had to say something cause they started speculating! Someone brought up that you might be the murderer! I know it was just a joke, but I couldn't let that idea get around their heads! I'm really sorry Durham!"

Durham opened his mouth to unleash his heated reply, but the sound of a phone ringing cut the tense atmosphere in the room. The coyote sighed as he pulled his mobile device from his pocket. He accepted the call without bothering to look at the screen.

"Hey mom." Durham said automatically. He braced himself for the wave of questions that would wash over him.

_"Mom? Is that your new way to annoy me on the phone too?"_

Durham's eyes widened in shock. That voice...

"El...Stripes?!"

"_Duh, who else?"_

Jack and Miguno exchanged confused glances but said nothing.

Durham ignored his roomates, his mind was racing as he tried to understand how did she get his number. As far he knew only his roomates and family have it.

"_Oh and, before you start asking, Els gave me your number. She got it from Legosi."_

Durham felt his jaw tightening for a moment. He was going to have a talk with Legosi later

"Oh, okay then. Why you're calling me this early?"

_"Welllll... I was thinking that you could join us at lunch? We might try get something going if we're seeing each other more often." _She replied. Durham could tell she was struggling for a reason to justify this unusual behavior.

"Us? Who else is coming?" The coyote asked, pointedly ignoring the aggravated looks his roomates were giving at him.

_"Oh, Shiira, Els and Juno so far. Is that okay?"_

"Sure. I'm surprised about Juno though. Are you all getting along that quick with her?" Durham felt his eye twitch as Jack started making hand gestures at him. Probably the mention of Juno got him worked up about something.

_"Juno is getting along nicely. She's been more quiet recently though. I dunno what happened. She also stopped asking about Legosi, not that I'm complaining." _Ellen added with a chuckle. _"I don't blame her for being that enthusiastic about him, but it was getting annoying to have her pestering around. Girl needed to chill out with the enamoured stuff."_

Durham was well aware that he is, probably, the one to blame in regards to Juno's change of demeanor. He has no regrets whatsoever, he did what he knew it would be the best for the girl.

"Eh, let her have her fun. Sooner or later she will understand that Legosi is not that simple."

Jack looked about to have a stroke at this point. Even the other canines were paying close attention to the conversation. A crazy and avengeful idea popped in Durham's mind.

"Say, do you mind if I take a friend?" He asked somewhat eagerly.

"_Huh, sure? As long is just one. Table can only take six at most." _

"Great! Will I see you in class before?"

"_Never thought I would hear someone being so happy about classes."_ She joked much to his delight. "_Of course. Biology at nine. No anatomical jokes please."_

"Eh, I wouldn't be that smart to pull them up." The coyote replied innocently, the devious smirk on his face told otherwise. "Later."

"_See ya."_

The coyote put the phone down once the call ended. As he looked up he tried his best to not laugh at the priceless faces of his friends.

"Wha... who...when...how... the heck?!" Jack shouted, looking absolutely gobsmacked by the event. Durham was surprised that the labrador nearly swore, something no one would ever expect in a lifetime. "Was that... _that girl?"_

"Yeah, it was. Why?" The coyote retorted nonplussed. Miguno snorted.

"Can't believe I'm actually witnessing one of us actually getting into something with a girl. I was expecting this to happen on third year at best." The hyena admitted, scratching the back of his neck apprehensively.

"Heh, not that I care. I was starting to think I was going to be the unlucky one to clean the shower." Collot added with a laugh. "Guess Durham will be our holy savior."

"Fine by me. I beat the dragon and get the princess while you all just watch." Durham quipped. All his roomates huffed at his response. "Aww, don't be like that. Life is meant to perform sacrifices and all. No pain, no gain."

"That's so Durham of you." Voss retorted while rolling his eyes. "I guess we all have to pick up the pace after this semester."

"Sure do." Jack agreed distractedly. His eyes were still displaying a bit of anxiety. "Say, why did you mention Legosi and Juno?"

"Gez Jack, why does it matter? You still think Legosi is in love or something? Have you tried talking with him?" The coyote replied dryly.

"Well, no." Jack admitted sheepishly. "I might get to do that soon."

"Now that you mention, I'm expecting him for another wrestling match. What you say Durham? Wanna try pinning Legosi again? You might actually get him to touch his chest on the floor this time." Collot suggested cheerfully. The shepherd loved playing wrestling with him and Legosi. Durham had learned after several failed attempts that he wouldn't ever win simply due Legosi's size.

"Sounds cool but I pass. I need to focus right now. Maybe another day. Oh, and... Jack?"

Jack raised an eyebrow once he saw the rather disturbing look on the coyote's face.

"Y-Yeah?"

"You're coming with me."

"WHAT?!"

Durham walked towards the cafeteria alongside a very shaky labrador. The coyote glanced sideways at the nerve wreckage that is his roomate. Perhaps Durham should've expected that Jack would freak out at being dragged in front of Shiira so suddenly. Yet, his guilt was lessened due Jack's persistent pestering about Legosi and his, possible but unlikely, feelings towards Juno. Had it been any other person Durham would've been fine with slapping and telling them to shut the fuck up. Jack was just too innocent and naive to deserve such dismissive treatment.

The coyote was glad for lunch time. His encounter with Ellen at the Biology class had been much nicer this time around. Durham took great joy on seeing the shocked faces of her herbivore friends as the zebra spoke with him rather naturally. Unfortunately the teacher had lessons to give them so their conversation was very limited despite their sudden closeness.

Ellen, as much Durham could observe, was far less aggressive if compared with the previous times they interacted, but she still kept some sort of distance despite not feeling threatened any longer. Durham was wondering what barrier was still left for him to gain her trust.

She still punched his shoulder when he made a rather inappropriate biology joke. The fact his arm was still usable was enough proof that she was softening up to him.

Jack was still squirming at his side once they reached the cafeteria. Durham patiently scanned the vast crowd of students in search of the group of females waiting for them.

'_Just now I realized we are looking to sit with a lot of girls.' _Durham thought distractedly as he kept searching. _'Talk about turning social life upside down. Me and Jack are sure to get a lot of attention.'_

The coyote finally found the group sitting at a corner at the far end. He sighed in despair.

"Come on Jack. We gotta go across to the far end to get to them."

"Huh, maybe we should get lunch first?" The labrador suggested anxiously.

The coyote had no choice but to agree. They went for the line to fill their trays before making their way towards the girls. Thankfully the task only took a couple of minutes. Durham didn't even bother checking the food he was getting, he filled it with whatever was on there first and waited for Jack to finish his own selection.

As soon the labrador joined him they had to avoid a sea of students to preserve their filled trays. Durham guided Jack through, he didn't want to witness another fight erupting because someone got run over. No to mention the small herbivores that were hard to spot could be squashed if one did not pay proper attention.

The coyote breathed a sigh of relief as they finally arrived at their destination. Durham automatically let out his trademark smirk at seeing his beloved zebra with the other occupants he was more or less familiar with.

"Hey, Durham! Jack! How are you both?" Came the excited voice of Els, brightening at seeing them arrive at last.

"O-Oh, hi Els." The labrador replied hesitantly. His eyes going across each occupant. "Ellen, Ahn...Juno, right?"

"That's me." The wolf replied with a smile, looking at Jack with genuine curiosity. "Are you close friends with Durham?"

"Yeah, I kinda am." He replied with a more confident grin. "Though not closer tha-

"As much I would like to start talking about ourselves." Dutham interrupted, glowering warningly at Jack. "How about we sit down first? I don't feel like holding this tray forever."

Jack nodded. He wasn't sure why Durham cut him off like that, but it probably had something to do about mentioning Legosi.

_'Maybe he doesn't want me to talk about Legosi with Juno? I guess it makes sense somewhat.'_

Jack's trail of thoughts were immediately interrupted once he realize the current setup of the table. The table could only allow six people on it, the only two vacant spots were both at one of the edges of the table. Shiira and Ellen were occupying the middle seats.

Taken by sudden panic Jack tried to race towards the vacant seat at Ellen's side, but Durham was having none of it and quickly cut the labrador off his current path.

The girls watched in mildly amusement as both boys started bickering about their seats.

"Like hell. This is where I sit. You can get nice and comfy near Shiira." The coyote argued with a devious smirk on his face. The cheetah raised an eyebrow and exchanged a knowing glance with Els. Ellen and Juno merely giggled at their antics.

"What?! But you and Ellen already talk a lot with each other! I wanted to talk with her too!" Jack replied lamely, feeling dread about sitting near his crush simply because he was forced into it.

"Sure. You can talk with her across the table just _fine._" The coyote replied, rolling his eyes as he finally laid his tray while sitting near the humored zebra. "You will be fine."

Jack looked throughly unconvinced but relented. The labrador tried his best to avoid eye contact, his attention solely focused on the other girls.

"So... Juno, right?" He asked again shakily. Juno nodded, the wolf found herself enjoying the awkwardness emanating from the other canine. "Huh, why you applied for Cherryton? Was it nearest from where you live?"

"Sort of. I live at the eastern, down to the riverside. Not much but houses and few stores there. I picked Cherryton because, ahn... it has less students than the others."

Juno smiled sheepishly at them, unsure if her explaination made much sense.

Jack nodded uncertainly, he didn't really made sense of that in the slightest, but Shiira and Durham perfectly understood her reasoning. It was a carnivore concern more than anything. Jack, bless his innocence, never personally experienced the consequences of extremely crowded facilities in a divided society.

Herbivores were used with grouping together so any amount wouldn't bother them. The more the merrier. For Carnivores more meant trouble. Most Carnivores disliked the idea of huge crowds, they prefered to keep their personal space preserved, it was undeniable to some that their old territorial habits could still play a factor on how they behaved.

Occasional fights happened at the cafeteria due this particular habit. A Carnivore bumping into another could spark a fight in a matter of seconds. Last thing anyone wanted was Carnivores becoming violent near Herbivores.

"Why you joined the uptight club Juno?" Durham asked jokingly. Shiira snorted while Ellen sighed dramatically. Els looked at him with a frown on her face.

"Uptight club?" She asked slowly. "Not sure if I appreciate that joke."

"Don't worry Els, I'm not out to demean anyone. When I say that is because of deer boy." The coyote explained apologetically. "He goes around like he's the king of the place, I figured he owned it somehow."

"Better than calling it 'Louis kiss ass' club." Ellen said bitterly. Everyone at the table stared at the zebra with a mix of shock and surprise. "What?! It's not really a lie if you think about it!"

"But... Ellen." Started Els hesitantly. "I thought you liked Louis."

"Yeah, I did." The zebra admitted remorsefully. "I just... realized that I'm wasting time hoping on anything about it."

"I hope that's not my fault." Durham immediately said, not liking to see how sad Ellen became. The zebra shook her head.

"No, I thank you actually." She replied, looking at him with something akin to appreciation. "I had quite a wake up call. I'm glad I have found a good first carnivore friend."

Durham felt his face heating up and quickly looked away. It has been a long time since he felt flustered about something nice that someone said to him.

"Eh, you're welcome. So, huh... Shiira." Durham adressed the cheetah much to Jack's horror. "Second year, right?"

"Yeah, just going along fine this year. At least better now that me and Tao are dating. I hope he behaves better than the last idiot." Shiira replied tiredly. "This club is driven me exhausted sometimes."

Durham immediately looked at Jack, a feeling of dread and guilt building up on his chest. It never occurred to him that Shiira could be dating anyone and he felt like a complete idiot for not thinking of this previously.

Jack, for the coyote's immense concern, didn't say anything. The labrador looked far more interested on playing with his fork and poking at his food. A quiet Jack was always a terrible sign.

Both Juno and Ellen realized the change, while they weren't sure what to think of Jack they could still feel sympathetic to his clear disappointment.

"So, huh. I think I heard Legosi calling me there. I-I will be right back."

Without waiting for an answer the labrador rushed away with his tray and his sudden departure took them by surprise.

"Jack, wait! Jack!" Durham called in vain. "Fuck."

"What happened?" Asked a dumbfounded Els.

"I shouldn't have brought him here. This is my fault." Durham said, angry at himself for making Jack go throught that embarrassment. "I gotta apologize to him later."

No one had anything to add. The atmosphere became heavy at the table. Ellen looked flustered as she hoped someone would bring something up to break the ice.

"Sooo... anyone planned what they want to do during the Summer Festival?"

Els question had most of the group thinking, which was a thankful distraction from the recent awkwardness.

"Oh, I kinda have something in mind!" Said Juno excitedly. "I would tell but I want to make a surprise."

"Fair enough. Wait, when is the date of the festival again?" Durham asked as he struggled to remember last year's festival.

"You forgot that? How?" Shiira glanced at him dubiously. "That's a very popular yearly event."

Durham tugged at the collar of his shirt. It wasn't his fault that he barely ever went to any of these events.

"Yeah, well. Reasons." His vague reply had the girls giggling at him. The coyote then realized that he was alone on a table full of exotic females. A quick look around confirmed his suspicion that he was dragging a lot of jealous looks from the nearby tables, especially the male occupants. "What was the date again?"

"First week of July, usually the weekend." Els informed him.

"First week..." Durham repeated distractedly. Ellen noticed his distant look. Normally she would've let it be but something on her concious nagged her to ask it anyways

"You had other plans for that particular weekend?" The zebra asked humorously. She could understand if most animals preferred to be anywhere else. The Festivals were nice but mostly short lived like any regular party.

The coyote didn't reply right away, pulling out his phone from his pocket. He tapped the screen a few times before sighing.

"Yeah, you could say so. First week of July starts on a saturday. Which means the festival falls on July seventh."

"What's so different about July seventh?" Asked Juno. The wolf failed to see any other ocassion that could be more important.

"Well, it just so happens to be my birthday." The coyote replied with a chuckle. "I just hope I don't get-

"Wait! Your birthday?! Is that why you didn't go last year?" Ellen said without thinking. Durham's head snapped towards her in shock.

"Wha... how did you know I didn't go last year?" He asked while narrowing his eyes, but his attempt at looking serious was sabotaged by the cheeky grin on his face.

"I, huh, kinda didn't... just asked around." The zebra replied nervously, her face reddening to the extreme.

"Oh, yeah. Ellen asked me if you were there last year cause she was thinking on inviting you this year." Els revealed, her smile looked anything but innocent.

"ELS!" Shouted Ellen who looked absolutely mortified.

"Oopsie?" She offered with a sheepish grin. Ellen groaned in despair at having her secret uncovered, in front of Durham no less.

Durham couldn't help the ecstasy buiding up at discovering that Ellen had been planning to invite him to such important ocassion. He also felt bad that Ellen was betrayed so cheaply, but he wasn't going to complain.

Juno frowned as she watched the exchange. She saw and heard enough to suspect that something was going on between the coyote and the zebra. The mere thought that _something_ could even be happening made the wolf curious. Durham made some reasonable points to her the other day, but Juno was struggling every time she thought about interspecies couples. She knew hybrids existed, but a carnivore and herbivore mix sounded so farfetched.

Her attempts at swaying Legosi were becoming even more hopeless at each new try. Things had gotten to the point where she wondered if Durham's advice would be a better approach. She really didn't know much about Legosi aside first impressions.

The bell rang across the cafeteria, slowly a huge mass of students started making their way out. Juno spared no second thought as she made her decision.

"Thank you for the invitation." She said while getting up with her tray, a respectful bow following. "I hope we can do this again sometime."

"Sure thing Juno." Ellen said immediately, looking relieved that the bell came to save her from embarrassment just in time. "Keep in touch."

Durham snorted.

"How wouldn't she? You both are at the same club practicing dancing lessons and staring at each others asses most of the time."

The coyote's witty remark earned him a punch on the shoulder by a very flustered zebra.

"I'm starting to understand why Ellen hits you so much." Els said with a fond smile on her face. "You have a rather unusual way with words Durham."

"If you mean crude that is." Ellen said while rolling her eyes. The smugness emanating from the male canine at her side was driving her annoyed. "We better get going before we are late for next class."

All the others had to agree as they recovered their trays and made their way to the pile of trays accumulated at the nearest balcony.

Durham wanted to talk with Shiira in regards to Jack's sudden departure, but a warm hand brought him to a stop once he made his way to the hallway.

"Huh, Durham? Can I talk with you for a moment?" Juno asked hesitantly. The coyote was surprised she would want another private talk after he chastised her the other day. The cafeteria was nearly empty so any eavesdropping was out of question.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Do you... think Legosi likes other wolves?"

Durham gave her a long look. He wasn't sure Legosi is something, or someone, he wanted to talk about. Despite being roomates he couldn't really say he knew anything significant about the gray wolf other than a hobbie or favorite food. He wasn't going to give Juno any hopes or info. She looked rather obsessed and that was never a good thing.

"Look, Juno. I'm not the best person to talk about Legosi. Why don't you ask someone else?"

"I tried." She sadly admitted. "No one in the drama club knowns him that well."

'_Urgh. Why I have to deal with this again? I should be mindful of Ellen, not Juno's crush. Though... I would feel bad for not helping her. She could use some advice.'_

"I think I know someone that can help you with that. Meet you this weekend?"

"Oh, no. We have the Adler's performance this weekend." She said while shaking her head. "I won't have anything to do there since I got late into the club. Can't wait for next year though!"

Durham chuckled at her enthusiasm. It was hard for this girl to ever be negative.

"Fine, I can wait. Let's see if this show is all of that anyways."

**A/N: Sorry for a bit of delay. Been dealing with quarantine stress. Have a fun week ya'll.**


	7. Chapter 7 Spots & Sharps

"What you're doing here? This area is just for members."

"Well, I hope you don't mind that I came for the emotional support. Ain't you nervous though?"

"Just a bit... I'm at the club for the second year, but this role is the biggest thing I've done yet. So... thanks."

"Anything for my favorite zebra."

"Are you implying that you actually talk with other zebras?"

Durham couldn't help the laughter that escaped from his muzzle. Ellen chuckled, busying herself by adjusting her dress while waiting for everyone else to arrange themselves properly. The coyote admired her presentation dress, although the bland olive color of it didn't make her beautiful eyes or stripes any justice.

The last days before the first Adler's play had been rather uneventful. Durham had to cope with a moody Jack for few days, which was basically the Labrador sulking into self imposed silence. He tried to apologize several times, but Jack kept dismissing his concern, alleging it wasn't Durham's fault that Shiira have people in her life. The coyote couldn't help but wince every time he thought about the way Jack spoke, the sorrowfulness in his voice was disturbing to say the least.

Durham was starting to realize the fact that he didn't really know much about any of his roommates before Cherryton inclusion. Each of his roommates have their own peculiarities, ranging from shy and modest to bold and confident. Jack has been the only one to know more about Legosi since they went far back as kindergarten. Miguno, Voss, Collot and Durham knew almost nothing about the other. Durham thought he understood his roommates better even with just two years of friendship. He is immensely thankful for having such good friends in his last student years. Yet, he wished he knew more than what he saw so far.

"Hey, you alright? You're spacing out on me." Ellen asked worriedly. Durham shook his head dismissively.

"Nothing to worry, just... thinking about what happened few days ago at the cafeteria."

"Oh, you mean about your friend, huh... Jack was it?" She guessed as she reminded that particular awkward event. "I know you didn't want to talk about it but, why did he ran off? It was super weird."

Durham ran a head over his head, unsure if he should even bother saying anything to her. He trusted Ellen enough, but a promise to Jack is not something he took lightly. Besides, they weren't exactly safe from prying ears, several stage members were nearby as they hurried themselves for the first act. Durham saw Louis in his Adler costume, the coyote had to admit he looked very impressive and felt a bit jealous that the deer would be the one taking Ellen's hand through the evening. Durham hoped this act wouldn't cause the zebra to be enamoured again.

Durham still couldn't understand what Ellen saw on Louis. The few days the coyote would spend watching Ellen and her friends practice were accompanied by a rather condescending deer that was starting to get on his nerves. A remarkable feat considering it took a lot to irritate the coyote. Now, Durham knows he promised Louis that he wouldn't aggravate his club members, but there nothing in that promise that included the deer himself. He took great joy on pissing off your highness whenever he could, which was justified by each time Louis decided to be an ass to someone for no good reason.

"I will tell you later." He promised. "Also, what's up with that dress?"

"What about it?" Ellen asked, looking herself over while wondering if there was something amiss. "It looks fine to me."

"You mean it looks ugly as hell." He chided much to Ellen's fury.

"Yeah, well! I guess I can't look decent enough for your t-

"Calm down. I'm not saying you look bad with it, just that it doesn't make you any justice. Why is such an important character of this play dressing like a commoner?" He inquired, hoping that his explanation would relax her nerves somehow. Ellen sighed.

"Fine, that's fair I guess. Sorry for snapping so quick." She apologized. The response wasn't the one that Durham expected.

"Say what? Apologizing so soon? How come I'm not in the hospital wing yet?" He joked which earned a laugh from the flustered zebra. "Ha! I made you laugh about your own behavior! Now I won the bet."

Ellen stared at him with incredulity. Both of them had indeed made a bet if Durham could make the zebra laugh about herself. Ellen thought it was beyond silly but accepted anyways. The coyote never specified what the winner would get and she was slowly starting to regret not asking.

"Urgh, whatever. Silly bet anyways." She replied morosely. "What do you want?'

There was a glint in Durham's eyes that Ellen found herself noticing more and more as she kept spending more time with the daring coyote. He clasped his hands, although he seemed really unsure about what he was going to say. A few of her stage colleagues were already taking positions at the backstage. Dom approached her alongside Els and Shiira.

"Hey! What's going on? You should be behind the curtains already Ellen." Shiira's commanding voice reached towards them with authority. She eyed both of them with suspicion. "I don't know what's happening here but it sure can wait for later. Why you're even here Durham? You're not part of the show."

"Of course not. Have you seen my facial expressions? I would never had any day of peace with all the fangirls that would chase after my tail." His mocking reply earned him an eye roll from the cheetah. "And if you must know, I'm here to show Ellen some support. It's a big deal I guess."

"Support?" Shiira regarded him with confusion. "What you're talking about? Ellen played this role last year. She did just fine."

Durham could only stare as he absorbed her words. Ellen slowly walked away, her reaction looking far too conspicuous for his likening. Did Ellen just lied to him? For what reason?

"Huh, well. We all make mistakes I guess." The coyote replied, glancing at the zebra with worry. "I should get going before _my king_ arrives here and makes another lecture about me being disrespectful to upperclass or whatever."

"He's not wrong." Shiira said firmly. "You're being rather annoying to him and strangely nice to almost everyone else. I really don't know what's up with you both, but you should respect him nevertheless." Durham could only dignify that with a snort before answering.

"I might do that the day he stops seeing me as a rabid creature that could attack at any moment. I will give him credit though, he actually stands his ground and faces me instead of cowering away. I respect him enough just for that. Ellen, on the other hand, is just bloody amazing and herbivores should be more like her."

That compliment surprised both females. Ellen kept looking away but now blushing furiously, Shiira stared at him more thoughtfully.

"That sounds very biased towards her. Unless..." The cheetah's eyes widened as she came to a sudden realization. "Durham, you're not... I mean, that _deep in?"_

The coyote winced at the crude slang. Thankfully Ellen wasn't any wiser of what that meant. He was also taken aback by Shiira figuring it out so quick. How did she do that? Most students were usually complete clueless about the signs of someone being interested into another animal. They never understood that concept very well until the last year of school. Was he being too obvious?

"What gave it away?" Durham asked nervously. He felt his grin faltering for a moment, gone was his relaxed stance, replaced by a rather fidgeting canine. Shiira was noticeably worried as she regarded him with utmost seriousness.

"It's not exactly my first time experiencing the signs of desire." Durham huffed. She was only partially right.

"And how you even learned about this?"

"It's not my really my wish to say you this, but... I have been through some moments that I'm not really proud of. Not that I had much of a choice..."

Shiira looked extremely downcast for a moment. Durham felt a surge of sympathy at the display of sorrowfulness. He was immediately aware that this display was implying that Shiira was another club member with a difficult background on her. Ellen glanced towards them, the conversation had her curiosity peaked, but a rather agitated Dom came around and dragged her towards the stage along the rest of the cast, leaving both Shiira and Durham alone for few minutes.

"Hey, Shiira." Durham called. The female raised her head, looking at him expectantly. "I won't pretend I understand whatever you've been through. Yet, I had my fair share of issues back then, you have a friend on me if you need it. Your business is no one else's." She chuckled bitterly at that.

"I appreciate, but it's a bit late for secrecy. Almost everyone knows it. It's... not a good thing that have on you, especially around males. I'm very thankful for being where I am. The director was very kind for offering me a place to actually be someone. This club felt like home like nothing else ever had and still does. I have my reasons for wanting things to work out, I don't go around being rough for the sake of it. I want us to succeed."

Durham could've hugged her if he had the courage to do so. This girl had been through some really nasty stuff, if the way her voice wavered several times wasn't enough indication of it. At least he could understand her ways a bit more thanks to this small talk. It seems talking was doing wonders for each problematic person he faced so far.

_'I wish Louis would be that simple. It's like talking with a broken record.'_

"They are like a family to me, so I worry about them a lot. When Tem died... that hurt so much. Not only because of his loss but that all my Herbivore friends started giving me looks and treating me as if I was the one who did it. It was... hard. I felt betrayed that they would think of me like that. I cared for Tem as much as I care for anyone else in this club. Ellen wasn't talking with me and Els had been avoiding me constantly. Although, for whatever reason, Els came around pretty quick. Ellen, Mina, and Jully were still not talking with me, but Ellen just then came around a few days ago. I think it was thanks to you. She does talk a lot about how you irritate her. Yet, she doesn't mind having you around for whatever reason. I really don't know how you managed to get Ellen to come around the fact you're a Carnivore, but I'm glad you did. She started talking with me again, even apologized for the way she behaved. Juno joining the club recently helped to lift up the mood greatly. She's a really nice girl once you get over her naivety." Shiira ended with a humored huff.

"Eh, what can I say? I'm even more stubborn than I give myself credit for. Not that I mind. Ellen is worth the trouble." Durham replied confidently. Shiira wasn't so sure.

"I hope you know what you're getting yourself into Durham. An Herbivore and a Carnivore? It's not that isn't unheard of, but the dangers of such mix are not simple enough. I love Ellen as much as a sister. _I don't want to see her getting hurt_."

The coyote bristled at that. He hated when people insinuated that he would even dare to do such a thing.

"What makes you think I would ever hurt her?! I lo- huh, do care about her a lot! I won't ever lay a claw or teeth on her!" His heated reply came out with a slip that he was pretty sure the cheetah noticed. 'Fuck me and my stupid mouth. I shouldn't lose my cool like this.'

"It's not you that I'm worried about, but whoever killed Tem."

That got his attention for good. Durham had forgotten that the technicality of Tem's murderer still being on the loose being a pondering factor on their safety. He crossed his arms, glancing around to make sure they were alone, thinking carefully his next few words.

"Who you think that did it?" Shiira sighed, this wasn't by far her favorite topic to talk about.

"Everyone is almost sure it was someone from inside the school. I might go further and say it was someone from inside the club, as much as it pains me to think it's true somehow." She frowned. "I would tear the bastard who did it a new one if I find out the truth."

"How many members this club has?"

"Thirty one. Actually thirty, I forgot Tem isn't... well. Thirty."

Durham nodded, his mind was racing with excitement and worry. A part of him was screaming for him to not get involved, but a bigger part of him, that mostly developed under the care of a police officer, found the prospect of doing detective work rather intriguing.

"How many are Carnivores?" He asked while trying to not sound too eager. The cheetah hesitated while trying to remember all the members.

"There's Bill, Tao, Aoba, Riz, Legosi, Kai, Frank, Shan, Nim, Juno and myself." She said slowly. "Pretty much very few of us are Carnivores."

"Huh, I wouldn't dare to go into details, but it's safe to assume that predation cases have something very in common in all of them."

"Which is?"

"The predators are always considerably bigger than their prey, so it's easier to subdue them. Imagine a small Carnivore like a Fennec fox trying to attack a much larger herbivore like a giraffe or a or a elephant. No way, no how."

"That can't always be the case." Shiira replied in disbelief. "I know of cases of dogs attacking horses and gazelles, those are mostly around the same height."

"True, strength is the decisive factor in such situations. Although it makes a huge mess since their victim would be as quick to subdue nor go out without making a lot of noise. Whoever killed Tem was quick on it and knew how to keep it controlled, and this is what scares me."

"What do you mean? Are you... saying that whoever killed Tem knew what he was doing? It wasn't under the influence of instinct?"

"What I'm saying is-

Durham was interrupted by the arrival of a rather agitated peacock.

"Shiira! What you're doing here? You need to supervise the crew on the backstage!! Hurry up!" The bird urged her with a wave of his huge wing. The female looked embarrassed for a moment before acknowledging his colleague.

"We can talk later." She said while looking back at Durham on her way out. "Just make sure to not discuss this with anyone else."

"Yes ma'am." Was Durham's reply followed with a salute. Shiira laughed at his response.

"Too bad you're into Ellen. You look quite the catch." She said before disappearing behind the doorway. The coyote stared at the spot where she once stood, perplexed that she actually had such impression of him.

_'At least I can rub it in Collot's face next time he teases me about dying a virgin.'_

While Durham was distracted with dirty thoughts an unannounced mammal made her way towards the coyote inconspicuously. The sound of her footsteps was barely audible but Durham's long ears managed to intercept the vibrations nevertheless.

"Don't you even dare. I don't think you will like if if I throw you across the room." He warned severely, fully aware that the newcomer had the intent of making him jump in fright. A feminine disappointed sigh followed his warning. He recognized it instantly and turned to face the familiar face. "Juno, never took you for one to scare other people."

"Well, you looked very distracted and I couldn't just let it pass." She replied sheepishly, lacing the fur on her check with a clawed finger. "It's been a long time since I played with anyone like this. I didn't make many friend during my teenage years or even kindergarten."

Durham felt skeptical that some highly sociable person like Juno couldn't make friends. Unless the places were she frequented were heavily populated by Herbivores. Juno's circle of friends grew at a rather exponential level. The amount of people in the school that know who she is has become absolutely frightening, her popularity among the Herbivores is also gigantic, to the point even some of Louis admirers were being torn about which one they liked the most. It was unheard of a mammal becoming this important into the social field so quickly.

"I would say you have plenty of friends now." The coyote pointed out with a chuckle. Juno didn't seem very enthusiastic about it.

"Yes, but most of them are just following the words of those few animals I've been nice towards ever since I got here. Even then they weren't really caring much about who I was, aside being a Carnivore." Her saddened tone made him feel for her. It will not ever be easy to be a Carnivore, no matter how much of a great person you are. "You, on the other hand, is a really true friend that told me what I had to listen. No lies, no false expectations, just the truth of what our society suffers through."

Juno spoke these last few words rather passionately. Durham wasn't sure how to reply so he went for the automatic response.

"Huh."

"...so, why you are here?" Juno asked quickly, pretending to ignore the fact his response felt really lackadaisical. The coyote shrugged, internally relieved for the change of topic.

"Just came to wish a friend good luck. She's got quite a big role after all. Well, not that I know really, I never watch those plays. At least never had a reason to."

Juno opened her mouth but shut it quickly. There was clearly something she wanted to say, but kept stopping herself as the silence that followed dragged on for a whole minute. Durham watched her struggle with certain apprehension.

"If there's something you want to ask just do it already. I don't feel like wasting any more time. I promised Ellen I would watch her acting."

"Y-You did? When?" Juno asked, the news surprised her since Els and Ellen had been sharing their time spent with Durham. Although Ellen had been very hesitant to talk about the coyote as of late. Juno wasn't sure what happened but something made Ellen anxious.

"Like you even should know. Seriously Juno, being popular doesn't make you omniscious aswell." Durham chided, looking very crossed by her words. The wolf quickly apologized, fully aware that Durham didn't know about the gossip that went around about him. "Fine, apology accepted. Now, what's been bothering you? Just spit it out."

"Huh, I was kinda wondering if... well, you have been really close to Ellen and I, huh... not sure what to think of it."

So that was it. Juno was also noticing the coyote being rather close to the Herbivore, Durham wasn't sure how he was going to answer to those type of questions. He didn't need to bring himself unnecessary attention.

"You think it's wrong? Look me in the eye and tell me what I'm doing is atrocious and I should stop." He challenged. The wolf stared back at him, her eyes locked into his, her mouth opened slowly to channel her thoughts outwards.

"I... can't say it's wrong, just... I'm worried, for both of you. I would be too scared to try anything with an Herbivore." She admitted. Durham let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He really liked Juno, but it would've been extremely painful to hear from her some sort of negative feedback.

"That's fair I suppose. Don't worry about us. We will get around eventually and, hey... Juno?"

"Yes?"

"Can you... not tell her about... you know." The coyote requested timidly. Juno soft smile was a blessing for him.

"Of course. I will leave this between you two. I wish you luck Durham."

"Say, what about you and Legosi?" He asked, which in turn made Juno's smile falter.

"I... don't know anymore. Legosi seems very distant every time I try to talk with him. It's almost like he's trying to ignore me or just really doesn't care. That's... confusing." Durham shrugged.

"Who knows? He might be gay and hasn't told anyone yet." The coyote suggested. Juno looked like someone just told her that she would die in the next few hours. "What? It's not really that farfetched!"

"That... never really occurred me." Juno looked absolutely shocked to the core. "I guess I jumped to conclusions too quickly again."

"Yeah, well no one's perfect. Say, wanna come with me to the stands and watch the play? It's getting dull being back here by ourselves."

The wolf's ears perked at his invitation. Her previous dramatic realization expression replaced with excitement.

"Of course! Can we get some snacks too?" Durham looked absolutely dumbfounded by her request.

"Eh? Okay, now let me start explaining few things to you again."


	8. Chapter 8 - Night of Reasoning

"Oi, are you all pitting me?"

"W-what? N-no, no. We are just-

"Why would we pity the guy who ran onstage with a broken leg for hours? That must've hurt like a bitch."

"Durham!!"

"What? I'm being honest here. Besides, deer boy should be thankful he didn't made the injury far worse. It was admirable dedication from his part I admit. I would even take out my hat for you if I had one, but that still doesn't make it any less stupid or irresponsible anyways. Be thankful your fracture didn't severe an artery."

"He's... got a point."

"Why I'm not surprised?"

"Of course he is."

"Durham, why you even here?"

The coyote who was currently leaning on the wall opposed to the bed where Louis was currently laying on, surrounded by few other stage and crew members, merely shrugged off the question. His eyes searched for Juno in hopes that she could offer some response to that matter.

The female wolf took her time to respond to his visual request. Her eyes had been glued on Legosi for the majority of the time they've been on the medical wing. The coyote couldn't really blame her for being so enamored, but he hoped she would listen to his advice and dig up a bit more about who is Legosi. Durham faked a cough to gather her attention.

"Oh, huh, I kinda brought him with me here since we were watching the play from the stands. I didn't expect to find Louis laying on the floor unconscious surrounded by everyone else." Juno replied, blinking after breaking eye contact with her main focus of attention.

If Legosi ever noticed the intense staring from Juno coming his way he didn't react or acknowledged it in any shape or form. Durham couldn't decide whether to be upset or pity the male gray wolf. He was either dense or ignoring Juno on purpose.

"Well. The important thing is that everything was under control regardless of the incident." Commented Tao, something that earned him a look of disbelief from Shiira.

Durham huffed. Everyone was panicking behind the curtains until Shiira shouted for everyone to shut the hell up and take Louis to the medical wing immediately. Unsurprisingly Ellen was the one to carry the wounded deer alongside Dom to the wing. Something about that implied that Louis wouldn't have liked to be carried by a predator to the sick bay. The gazelle nurse who was on shift that night immediately accommodated the deer while she phoned for the Academy's assigned doctor to pass by for an emergency occurrence.

Twenty minutes of long waiting went by, all members were requested to stay outside of the bays until the deer was properly treated. Durham stayed quiet the whole time, looking at the other students on the corridor with him, each of them finding their own way to distract themselves from anxiety or boredom. No one dared to speak about Louis condition, for what reason he did not know. It surprised him they were this composed despite the little panic show from earlier.

He's been there with them for nearly an hour, now that Louis was cleared for visits they were throwing questions about his presence? The nerve.

"Fine by me, why you even care about it? Durham's been sticking with us for days, get used to it." Ellen immediately chided the other members. Most of them raised their eyebrows at her heated response, especially the Carnivores. Not one of them ever saw Ellen side with a Carnivore before.

"The play." Louis said, ignoring the recent conversation about the coyote. Something about Durham was very confusing for Louis and while he wanted to understand what the coyote was aiming at by being at their side constantly he had other worries in mind. "Did anyone see me fall?"

"Huh, no." Said Aoba, a rather tall and imposing male eagle who seemed to be serious most of the time. "The curtain fell completely before you did."

Louis nodded, internally relieved that he was able to perform flawlessly despite the horrible challenge he had to face through. Now his mind was into settling immediate matters.

"I've been informed I won't be able to walk on my leg until after two weeks if no further complications happen. Still, the next part of the play happens in few days. Someone will have to replace me for Adler. The options for that are thin since most of you are incapable of perform such grandiose."

"Jackass."

"Durham!!"

"Nothing saying anything but the truth."

"Nothing? You mean 'Not'?"

"Eh, it rhymes."

"Do you want to join Louis by being on the nearest bed with fractures too? Be quiet!"

"Make me."

Ellen gaped at his bold challenge. This was really unusual to hear from the coyote, she had a strange feeling he was showing a new side of him she hasn't seen before. Durham was still leaning on the wall, looking impassive as always, but something on his voice betrayed that blank expression.

"It will take me more than some broken bones to willingly spend time near deer boy."

All the other members watched the exchange with mixed reactions. Shiira and Els were giggling at their bickering. Legosi was thoroughly taken aback by Durham's behavior, he never had seen or heard the coyote talk like that before nor he imagined Durham to dismiss Louis upperclassmen status so openly. Bill was amazed at how Ellen threatened to break a carnivore's bones. Tao and Aoba exchanged confused glances, unsure of what to think of the situation. Dom and Kai were chuckling at the scene, both had been entertaining the idea that the zebra and coyote were going out. Juno only smiled awkwardly at the scene, she wasn't really on taking anyone sides for now.

"Are you all done spatting your nonsense?" Louis asked imperiously.

"I don't know. Are you done being a pompous prick?" Durham asked back with a smirk. The deer felt an eye twitch. The coyote was really keen on getting on his nerves and Louis hated to feel that he was falling for that gradually. Legosi approached his roommate with worry.

"Durham, you shouldn't say things like that to Louis-senpai. He's-

"Arrogant and has no friends?" The coyote guessed. It must've been his imagination but he could've sworn he saw the deer squirm for a second. _'Talk about nailing the... crap, I forgot the name of the thing you nail.'_

Legosi looked absolutely affronted by the coyote's reply.

"That's not true! We are his friends." The wolf immediately replied. A rather awkward silence followed this words, which implied that not everyone in the sick bay seemed to share that idea. Legosi glanced around, realizing that he was standing alone on his own argument. "I-I don't understand. Louis-senpai is-

"Not your friend. Nor the friend of anyone else in this room. That much is true." Came the reply from no other but the deer himself. He sighed heavily before leaning his head back onto the pillow. "I understand one would think friendship to the equally acquired by the time spent on the presence of the current members. Yet, I did not came here to make friends, but rather to be a Beastar."

"Gez, what a killjoy. Do you even hear yourself talk? If I had to be honest I would much rather see Juno being a Beastar than you. At least she makes an effort to like someone."

Juno had a very noticeable blush on her cheeks. She smiled gratefully towards the coyote who nodded at her.

Louis rolled his eyes, something that it was unusual for anyone to witness. The deer had always brought himself to be as much respectful to others, no matter who they were. Durham managed to break Louis from his formality bubble to wild waters of social engagement.

"Juno? Beastar? Perhaps you woud do well to visit a psychiatrist." He replied, glowering towards the coyote. Juno's smile evaporated in the blink of an eye. Both Ellen and Shiira scoffed at him. "Why should I even expect someone like you would understand the struggles and needs of our society?"

Ellen froze. Her eyes searched for the coyote, desperate to find a calm and passive animal instead of a wild beast she feared that could arise from such wilfully ignorant speech. She also noticed that Juno was looking a bit scary, her eyes narrowed at the deer with a pensive expression, she was scratching the area under her muzzle with a rather pointy claw. It was quite concerning to see such change of mood on the gray wolf.

Durham slowly stood upright, keeping both his hands inside his pockets, a strange smile on his face as he contemplated how to respond to such poorly chosen words.

"Well, we all have to aim at something I suppose. Just don't expect me to feel sorry for you the day you're walking down the streets alone and some huge predator jumps on you. You know what happens then? Nothing. Your death would just be another statistic and our dear society would just await eagerly for the next Beastar. So, who's really going to care about Louis then? Let me know how being a Beastar will ever change our fucked up society. Go on, go have fun being whatever and pretending you can actually make any change whatsoever. Like Carnivores would listen willingly to an Herbivore. Strange coincidence that almost every Beastar has been an Herbivore."

Durham walked away without looking back, leaving behind him far more uncertainty than when they arrived.

The coyote walked towards the exit, finding himself outsite on a rather chill night. The whole campus was silent despite the clear presence of activity coming from the several windows of the buildings nearby. Only very few night lamps gave the grounds below any source of visiblity. Something that was made on purpose to discourage students from leaving their rooms on the evening.

_'Why can't he even try to see the bigger picture? Deluded, that's what he is_.'

"Durham, wait!"

The coyote's ears perked despite the fact they were always erect. He turned around and stared expectantly at a panting zebra.

"Oh... wow... I... really need... to go back jogging." She said in between sharp pauses. This picked the coyote's interest.

"You could join me and the other members. We do it often early in the morning, that if you're an early riser. We actually have a couple Herbivores in the club this semester. One of them is kinda obsessed with it. She says all the time the more she does it, the better her product quality will go, whatever that means."

"Wait, what?! Why haven't you told me before?!" Asked an undignified Ellen. Durham shrugged.

"You didn't ask." He replied with a cheeky grin. _'Eh, there goes another punch to the collection.'_

"Are you done being a smartass?" Ellen asked while massaging her fingers. "Damn, you are way more resilient than you look."

Durham gave her an humored grin in return.

"Are you implying that I'm a scrawny coyote?" Ellen shrugged apologetically.

"Well, you're not as big and strong like Bill or Legosi, but..."

"Buuuuut?"

"Huh, you're... kinda... nice to look at." She said while looking away in embarrassment.

Durham did a double take. Did she just complimented his physical appearance?

_'Okay? What she's trying to get at with this conversation?'_

"Ellen, why you came after me? What do you want?"

The zebra frowned. She seemed awfully hesitant about talking on whatever was bothering her. Durham was starting to understand that, despite their conversation from days ago, the zebra would still struggle to reveal her more inner turmoils.

"It's just... it's quite late now and it's... dark."

Durham stared, puzzled about what she is trying to get at. She shook her head once she noticed how clueless he was.

"Look, can we keep this between us? I really don't like saying this to anyone." She asked pleadingly, something that had Durham surprised and worried.

"Sure, what is it?" He asked expectantly. Ellen glanced at the sides to make sure they were all by themselves, at that moment the coyote finally took notice of how anxious she looked.

"I wanted to go back to the dorms, but Els is going back with Dom only later on. I can't really go by myself due the safety measurements and all of that. I, huh, also have a... well, I don't really feel okay in the darkness."

Durham blinked, slowly processing what he just heard as the zebra nearly squirmed whatever she didn't want to say.

"You... are afraid of the dark?"

If the drop of her ears wasn't enough of an answer he didn't know what it was.

"Yeah, it's ridiculous. I know. I just d-

"No, it's an honest and logical reason to fear. I myself don't really like dark places, they make me remind of things I don't really want to."

What self-respecting Herbivore wouldn't be afraid of the dark? Even Carnivores didn't like being out for too long. Darkness was a predator's strongest ally. Herbivores were hopeless in dark environment due the lack of night vision eyesight. Most Carnivores could adapt to darkness just fine. An hability that has been in their DNA for eons. Ellen was a strong and fierce animal, but fighting and enemy while blind was not gonna do her any good.

"Ahn, I guess I should take you back to your dorm then?I don't feel like leaving you waiting for your friends anyways."

She nodded, looking partially relieved and thankful. Much to Durham's shock she grabbed his hand with her own.

"Then let's hurry up. I don't want to be out here for too long." She said as she almost dragged him towards the Herbivore building. The coyote couldn't help the dumb smile on his face at finally being able to hold her hand.

_'Strong, yet so warm and soft. Just as expected. I wish we could stay like this for much longer.'_

"I'm really glad I'm your friend right now. At least some Carnivores still aim to be better themselves. Although some way more than others." Ellen said much to Durham's internal happiness. "Louis really need to get his head together. What he said back there was so fucking stupid. What that moron knows about our problems? And the way he dismissed Juno?! What a bastard! That's what he is! Not a Beastar, a bastard!"

"Calm down stripes. It's not healthy to get so angry. Although I do not disagree, just surprised to see you curse this much." Durham chuckled at her raging. "I wish other girls were more like you. Talk jerks down for what they are. If we are being jerks we need to be called out."

"Pfff, like most of them would care. It's all the same. Girls are treated lesser most of the time, cause females are an accomplishment for most of these fuckers. The hell with them."

Durham was loving each second of this conversation. He was thankful for Ellen being here to lift off his spirits after Louis attitude, even if unsurprising, was really dissapointing.

"I juat can't believe I wanted to even have anything to do with him! I was so foolish to think he cared. We are both Herbivores with similar personalities-

"Kinda."

"Whatever! I meant we don't back out from talking with a Carnivore!"

"True." _'Which is what I love in you the most.'_

"I agree with what you said. I rather see Juno getting to be a Beastar. I just don't think her mind is into it that much."

"Probably because she's too busy thinking about Legosi." Durham suggested with a humored grin.

"Fuck, that's getting so cringy to look at. Either she just says it or I will just kick her butt to make her talk. It irritates me to talk with her and see her staring dreamingly behind my back because Legosi is somewhere around."

"I don't think we need to send Juno to the hospital just yet."

"Fuck you too!" Ellen replied as they both laughed right after.

They kept walking quietly after she ran off of steam to keep her curses in regards to her club colleagues. Durham enjoyed the walk as much as he could, Ellen being really close at his side as the walked near every post lamp in their way back to their respective dorms. The coyote was aware that he would go along with her only until they arrived at the Herbivores building entrance since Carnivores weren't really allowed in that building.

Deciding to be a bit more daring and test the waters the coyote slowly dragged his tumb across the back of her hand on a caressing gesture. As expect she reacted to it, but what he did not expect was for her to go stiffen for a moment then quickly resume their walking as if nothing happened. He threw a sideways glace at her to spot a tiny smile on her muzzle. Durham could've sworn his heart started beating a lot faster upon that discovery.

"Say, Durham. Why did you join the Sports PE? Any particular reason?" Ellen asked distractedly.

"Oh, yeah. I want to make a career as a race driver. What about you? Anything in mind for a career?" He asked, curious about what Ellen was aiming at for her own life. The zebra shuggred.

"Honestly? I wanted to be a police officer."

That was not the answer he would've dared to guess. Still, she didn't said it as if it was still her goal.

"Why 'wanted'? Surely you can still think of it. Ak- , huh, my father is one after all. He could give you some pointers when you meet him." Durham suggested, hopeful she would give at least a chance to rethink it. Being a police officer was a lot better than literally any other job, especially when it gives you firearms for personal protection. If anything he honestly could see a tough girl like Ellen being on a uniform. Not to mention how good she would look.

"I don't know. Thanks anyway. Things had been kinda difficult to understand after what happened with Tem. I wish he was still with us."

Durham pressed a little harder on his grip to gave her some sort of ensurence. He dared not to let her be comsumed by such sad thoughts.

"Hey, like I said before, I'm sorry about Tem. I didn't know him at all aside from what Legosi told me and few brief encounters. I'm sure he was a good animal. Just don't let what happened with him stop you from moving on in your life. Things will come through eventually. I'm sure the folks working with my father are on the case with a lot of dedication. No one wants a murder loose on a school after all."

"Yeah, you're right." She nodded, her hand grasped his more firmly. "I just hope it isn't anyone from the club."

"Who knows? Only time will tell. The best we can do now is stay put and not risk ourselves adventuring alone out there. You never know who could be leading you into a false sense of security." Ellen chortled at that.

"Isn't that right 'Mr. Coyote who's leading me at night back to my dorms'?

"Gez, your irony stings my heart with negativity and mistrust. I may return to the sick bay and spend the rest of the semester there." He replied back with his own touch of irony. Ellen replied with a light shove on his shoulder.

"Say, do you have plans for the Summer Festival? I wanted to go somewhere after the show. Tired of being stuck in this campus. I miss going outside, but going alone is just not something I dare to do." She asked, looking at him hopefully. Durham felt like this sort of question was a gift from heavens.

"I may have something in mind. That if you're okay with spending the night with me." He replied with a cheeky grin. Ellen looked pensive for a moment.

"Anything smutty?"

"WHAT?"

**A/N: Sorry for the delay, been throught an stressful weekend and had no time to work on this. Thank you all for the reviews and for reading this story. Next update this weekend if no unexpected issues until then. Stay safe ya'll.**


	9. Chapter 9 - Bullet Drops

_"I'm saying this cause I'm worried. We've been on the case for only two days before it was dropped without a satisfying reason. Orders from the higher chain told us off. I could tell not many officers are happy right now and there's a lot of rumours spreading, dangerous ones."_

"I won't leave my friends. I know you are worried, but I can't just pack and leave. I don't want to sign for another academy. Not gonna happen."

_"I understand, but I couldn't really keep this away from your mother. She will try to contact you and make your mind about it. Do you still have the suitcase?" _

"...yeah, I do."

_"Then you should be fine, at least until I can snoop in some details from the archive. The science department was working on identifying the bite marks from the... well, whatever was left. What I could get my hands on is that it belonged to a rather tall and powerful predator. Something around two meters at best. So we can narrow the suspect list to very few, but I don't really have the info about the students currently at Cherryton. The school's website has been off ever since the accident."_

"I can get a list from the office or access the network from the inside. It should be simple."

_"Simple if no one sees you. Which means only during night, and that is out of question." _

"Fine, anything else?"

_"...Durham, why would you insist so much on staying? I understand you have friends, but I wasn't expecting this much resistance from you."_

"I... found someone."

A momentary pause followed these words. The coyote heard the breathing coming from the other side of the line picking up on a sharp intake for a second.

Durham's father, who was currently at the Police station, had called his son minutes earlier to warn him about the precarious situation the school was put into. For whatever reason the investigation about the murder of Tem had been dropped. This caused several raises of eyebrows back at the station, many officers were seriously unhappy with the event and the idea of leaving a possible predator inside a school get away with it. His father, along close friends of his, were not letting this one go and decided to keep working on the case under secrecy.

Durham was far from pleased that hearing the Chief of the station had been the one to declare the case closed. A feeling that his father shared and sparked a huge amount of distrust in other officers.

_"S-Someone? You mean... a soulmate?"_ Not exactly how Durham's would've liked to describe, but truth nonetheless.

"Yeah, I... I like her a lot. I can just abandon her! I would never forgive myself."

_"I see... but I don't think that she would be in immediate danger despite-_

"She's a zebra."

Another paused followed, Durham would've bet his entire student career that his dad was in shocked silence.

_"Son, are you sure about her?"_

"I love her. I'm sure."

_"Oh... wow, I... am happy that you've found someone, and I understand why you're so adamant about not leaving. Well, in that case... I think you need to carry the thing we talked about."_

Durham, despite being on the phone, made a face at the proposal

"Do I have to? I rather not have that thing with me while I'm walking around."

_"If you want to protect you, your friends, and your girl you have to. It's the only way since we are dealing with a large and strong animal apparently. Don't take risks when you have tools to prevent it." _

"Right, I will do that then, also... why you send me two? What's the other one for?"

Another pause. Durham was starting to hate these hesitations coming from his father.

_"You decide what to do with it. Until soon, take care Durham." _

"Yeah, you too Akagi."

A chuckle was the last thing the coyote heard before the line went dead. He closed the call and turned off the screen. His eyes wandered across the empty dorm. All his roommates were currently away to different classes, but since Durham was on a free period he decided to go back to the dorm to catch up on some homework. His roommates being all away at the same time was a really rare occasion, one which he decided to use on his favor.

Not wasting any time he moved the blankets and pulled the bed out, revealing a secret storage underneath. Plainly visible inside the small perpendicular space was a rather aged suitcase. The coyote pulled it out carefully, the item had some weight to it despite it's size. Durham slowly worked the lock combination, his mind took some time to remember the correct numbers. With a satisfying click he opened the case to reveal the content inside.

"Fuck me. Nine millimeters? I was expecting something less up to date."

Durham carefully removed the gun from the customized holster. The dark material shined under the light, reminding Durham of the first time he held a gun. His father introduced guns to him under heavy supervision, saying the sooner he understood the power this item possessed the more he would respect it. His father also said that a gun was never to be his first choice during any situation of danger, yet it was better have it than regret it. Now those words were going to haunt him during the rest of his stay at this academy.

The customized holster was designed for his backside apparently, which would provide easy access and better concealment than a leg or hip holster. There was another gun underneath the first one he sacked, which also had a few extra clips of ammunition.

"Gez, the hell I need this much? Is he expecting me to be a terrible shooter or what?" The coyote wondered aloud, looking confused at the implications of the extra ammunition. He learned to shoot with his father and gathered few years of practice under his belt. His mother never knew of this of course, both of them would describe their outgoings as simply 'father and son activities.' Durham was assured he has decent aim according to his father.

Durham removed his shirt and slowly accommodated the holster around his chest and back. The belts around him felt a bit weird, he tested the safety with a satisfying click then placed the gun back into the holster, the extra weight felt very noticeable and rather awkward. Once the shirt was back he decided to test his outline on a nearby mirror. It was hard to tell if there was any extra volume from all the angles he tried. Feeling satisfied with the concealment tests Durham went back to his bunker, closed the suitcase and placed it back inside the storage, the bed and blankets were soon back into place.

"Hi Durham!"

The coyote nearly jumped all the way to the roof. He turned around to meet Jack standing at the door, looking confused at his strange reaction.

"Gez, can't you knock or something?" Durham asked crossly. The Labrador smiled sheepishly in response.

"Sorry, I had to pass by to get a book I forgot. What were you doing?"

"Eh, if you really want to know I was about to leave for next class. Feeling bored in here all by myself."

Lying to Jack never felt so awful as it did in this particular moment. Durham whished he could trust Jack as much the Labrador trusted Legosi.

Speaking of lies, Durham was wondering what Ellen had been hiding from him. Her attitude towards him has been mostly positive, which he was thankful considering the amount of times he got beaten up decreased significantly. Yet, every time he asked about other club members the zebra just pretended to ignore his questions and look elsewhere. He wasn't sure what was up with that.

"If you say so. Say, how are you doing with Ellen? I haven't heard about her in awhile." Jack asked as he kept searching into his bunker for the missing book. "You asked her out already?"

"Eh, not really?" Durham replied unsurely. He was surprised that Jack expected him to go to that step so quickly. "I mean. Summer Festival perhaps. Also my birthday is around that time. We might get somewhere after all."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about your birthday! Will you want to spend the day with your family?" The canine asked expectantly, looking relieved that he finally found the missing book. "I know you haven't seen them for quite some time."

"That's... not a bad idea. I guess I would if it wasn't for Ellen. I really wanna be with her instead. I just don't have much in mind on what to do that specific day. Any suggestions?"

"Well, you could try the movies or some amusement park. Not that there's any in the town right now. You could try asking Els about what Ellen likes to do on her free time though. I really don't have much to offer."

"That's alright, thanks Jack. Hey, huh, about Shiira..."

Jack's smile faded for a moment, Durham couldn't help but feel guilty for Jack's struggles on his feelings towards the cheetah. The coyote wished he knew a way to work it out, but Tao wasn't really a bad guy despite being awfully silly at times. He just hoped that Shiira wasn't really serious about her current relationship.

Speaking of her, the cheetah had been on overwork ever since Louis incident and was starting to show signs of stress at each mess up the other members kept making. She tried her best to keep everyone in line but the absence of Louis caused few members to go lax in their respective tasks. Shiira was scary but she didn't have the same intimidating imposition that Louis often caused. Not to mention that Louis actually has enough authority to kick whoever it pleased from the club.

Legosi suffered the unfortunate fate of replacing one of the actors from the play. Bill would be the one playing Adler and the gray wolf was the only one who fitted in regards to physical appearance to replace the character Bill was acting as previously. Legosi had, for the first time Durham could actually remember, looked absolutely nervous. The impassive look was now mostly replaced by anxiety and the coyote could understand his concerns. Legosi was always working at backstage, being the one responsible to illuminate every performance. One that was used working in the shadows now would be the one under the spotlight. It was a scary sudden change no matter who you were.

Durham, much to the absolute confusion of Louis, visited the deer occasionally. His recovery was speeding up fairly well, but it would still take a couple more weeks until he was proper to set both feet on the ground. His talks with the deer had been short, Louis wasn't very keen on talking with him despite the coyote being one of the very few that would check on his whereabouts.

Surprisingly Juno had been the other one to attend to where Louis was staying on recovery. In one occasion both her and Durham met when checking on the deer. The coyote couldn't help but be in awe at how much of a good heart the girl has. She cared despite the deer's poor attitude, even if he insulted her the other day. Louis always looked away whenever Juno tried to talk with him. Durham was almost assured that the deer was embarrassed by her presence and probably regretted his mistreat of her.

The memory of Juno gave Durham an interesting idea.

"Say, Jack. How often you talk with Juno?" He asked while accompanying his roommate outside. The Labrador blinked at the sudden change of subject, his mind raced to find a satisfactory response.

"Huh, not much. I mean, Juno is a really nice girl, I actually enjoy talking with her. She's just... I don't know. _Too positive."_

Durham stumbled for a second, his eyes widening at the absurd of what he just heard.

"What?! Jack, are you for real?You?! Of all people that I known, you're the one I never expected to hear that kind of excuse." The coyote accused with a smile, the notion of Jack finding someone else to be too chipper for his likening was just too ironic. The Labrador shrugged.

"I can't help it, she is really nice. I just don't see her that way you might think. I guess being friends with Legosi for so long made me appreciate people that are far different from me."

The coyote had no answer for that at all. Jack spoke honest and truthful words and there was no rebuttal to it.

"If you say so. I just worry about that girl. She's so naive at times, but still wishes to help whenever she can. Sometimes I wonder why she tries so hard. Is she still looking for Legosi wherever she goes?" Jack laughed heartily at that.

"Yep, Legosi has grown an habit of hiding each time he sees her around. Honestly I wished he would stop doing that. I get he's afraid of a relationship perhaps, but the way he's going at it is going to give Juno the wrong idea. I don't want to see her hurt about it either." The labrador sighed heavily. "If only Legosi would understand how difficult is to find someone like that. Honestly Juno complements his personality very well. He's quiet and mostly to himself, always thinking about something. Juno is very communicative and always looking outwards to others, she doesn't mind sharing her mindset. She's joyful while Legosi is rather gloomy. Just don't tell him I said that. I worry about him a ton, I always imagined that a girl in his life would help him lift a smile more often, but he avoids her like she's some disease. Not gonna lie, I am a bit disappointed."

"Say, Jack... " Started Durham slowly. "You don't think he might not be into girls?"

Jack's mouth twitched for a moment, it looked like the idea wasn't very in the realm of possibilities for him.

"No, I known him for years. I'm pretty sure I would've noticed any sign. He's constantly in a room full of dudes, you know that. He never displayed anything different from the usual. I just... don't know what's going on." Jack sounded rather upset he couldn't figure his friend out. If something bothered Jack was the event of being unable to help his best friend. Durham glanced wearily at some students passing by before resuming their conversation. Eavesdropping was a common thing in the campus.

"So we can work with other two theories. Either he's awfully shy about it or..."

"Or what?"

"He might be interested on an herbivore."

Jack actually stopped walking this time. Turning around to face the coyote with a rather agitated expression.

"W-what?! But... Legosi wouldn't dare to ri-

Durham raised an eyebrow. The other canine clearly had stopped himself from saying something very revealing and Durham was starting to think Jack might know way more about Legosi than he was letting on. Jack frowned, looking upset with himself before addressing his roommate again.

"Look, it might be possible, I just don't think Legosi would dare to risk an herbivore's safety for the sake of a feeling."

"Are you calling me irresponsible then? I'm a carnivore and I'm in love with an herbivore after all." Durham quipped, not liking Jack's excuse one bit.

"What?No! No, no, no. I don't mean it that way Durham! Sorry. I... it's hard to explain, but..."

"You don't have to if you can't. Something tells me you know something no one else should?" The coyote guessed. His eyes narrowing at the other canine, daring him to try talking his way out of it. Jack visibly winced.

"Yeah, I do. I promised Legosi I wouldn't ever talk about it again or to anyone. It happened so long ago though. I expected him to have overcome that by this time."

Durham's only response was a silent nod. Their resumed their walking immediately, reaching the main hallway where each would move towards their own respective classes.

"I guess I see you later then. Hopefully we can get some free time before evening. I kinda wanna talk talk with the girls again." Durham said thoughtfully, imagining what kind of questions he needed to direct towards Els to get something right in his attempts to provide Ellen with a good time. Jack laughed.

"Yeah, sure. Keep going like that and you might take Collot's spot as the ladies man."

"Ha! Fat chance I would!" Was Durham last reply before turning around to enter his Biology class. What he did not expect was nearly shoving his muzzle into Ellen's chest.

"Ahgn! Ellen! What the...?" Durham asked while quickly jumping back to avoid the collision. She regarded him with surprise, as if she wasn't expecting to see him right there. "I almost ran into you! Why you're standing at the door?"

"Oh, I was just talking with Els. We've been discussing some late details about the second part of the play this weekend. Will you be coming to watch?" She asked eagerly. He dared not to say otherwise to that adorable face of hers.

"Of course. Why would I miss the chance of see you and Bill holding hands?" He replied with a smirk. Ellen rolled her eyes at his response.

"Why I'm not surprised? Why can't you just admit you're jealous?" Durham's snort made her frown. "And what's so funny?"

"Me?Jealous? Please, that poor tiger will need CPR once you're done dragging him around the stage. He may look tough but I wouldn't be surprised if he's sweating buckets about having to perform as the main character."

Ellen shook her head while following him back to their seats for class to start. There was a few herbivores nearby that were giving Durham weary looks while glowering at Ellen aswell. The coyote voice this event to the zebra.

"Don't mind them. They[re just upset I no longer share the same spot as they do. Like I care, they never say anything even remotely interesting."

"Oh, doesn't that mean you see me as interestiing?" The coyote immediately asked. Ellen smiled sideways.

"Well, you're not dull as a brick wall, so that's something I guess."

"Ouch, my feelings stripes."

"What feelings? I beat you so many times I was starting to think you were immune or something."

"That's cause you punch like a girl."

Now that punch he received hurted _a lot_. He winced as he grabbed his shoulder that felt like it was on fire.

"Fuck, sorry. You didn't have to exaggerate, it's just a joke Ellen."

Ellen regarded him with a bit of aphrehension, certainly he deserved the punch but she had to admit she did overdue for not really a good reason. She watched as the coyote struggled to move the afflicted arm to grab his pen. Guilt immediately burned in her chest, she tried to assure herself it was justified, but seeing Durham hurting wasn't even remotely close to what she could dignify as proper.

She placed a hand over his, grabbing gently while looking at him with the best apologetic face she could think of.

"You're right. I should be such a poor sports like that. Fuck, I need to get out of this place. Being stuck in the campus is driving me crazy."

"Sounds like an issue alright. Why don't you go out?"

"Bah, these dumb rules about Herbivores going out late at night due this or that. Like it makes any difference." She complained quietly, the teacher had been looking their way more than once.

Durham immediately saw an opportunity in this, he would've chastisied her for deeming those safety measures foolish, Tem had been murdered during night time after all. Yet, he saw the opening for what he wanted to accomplish and took it without any doubt.

"Say, why we don't go out someday?" He suggested while trying to mask his nervousness. Ellen regarded him with an even stare.

"You can't be serious.They would know I went out. I don't need to get into problems with school administration."

"Well, I may have an idea to go around that. Just wait until we're done with this second part of the play. I'm sure it will go just fine anyway."


	10. Chapter 10 - Flooring Matters

"Are you alright?"

"No, but I will get through eventually. You?"

"Extremely worried if I have to be honest. About you, my friends and Ellen."

"Ellen is not in that group of friends?"

"Yeah, well. She means a lot more than I would like to admit. Not that it should be surprising."

"Considering all the times she hit you, yeah, that makes sense."

"So, can I ask you a favor?"

"Now that's new. What kind of favor are we talking about?"

"I need you to teach Jack how to dance."

Shiira stared at Durham with the most priceless expression he ever saw on anyone. Sure, his intent wasn't meant as a joke of any kind, but it was still funny to see her reaction nevertheless.

When he decided to wait around this particular day after the crew dance was done practicing he did consider asking Ellen instead, but he had a feeling that such request wasn't going to roll out with Ellen at all. She was just too exclusive in her circle of friends, Jack knew nearly nothing about her at all. He did notice that Shiira looked far more tired than usual, even her usual usual tidiness had softened. The cheetah was handling dance crew, acting crew, set crew and lighting crew. Louis usually handled the acting and lighting crews, but since the deer was only halfway from recovering from his injuries the second year was starting to struggle with the amount of tasks.

Durham felt bad to see her wearing out without much of help from the others, the coyote did persuade Juno to lend a hand on set more often. Shiira, despite the overbearing work still getting to her, was immensely thankful for the gray wolf being there to carry some of the minor tasks. Els also tried to make more of an effort on helping the cheetah with Dom and Aoba making their best to manage the set and design crew. Bill, with the monumental task of acting as Adler, spent most of his time performing rehearsals and choreography. The tiger was noticeably under a fair amount of anxiety despite the confident grin on his face at each time he finished his practicing.

Ellen was doing fine on her dancing exercises, though she looked far more hesitant whenever Durham was there watching her. Something that Els and Juno noticed and start giggling about much to the zebra's embarrassment. Shiira, on the other hand, would _kindly_ ask the coyote to leave whenever that happened.

Legosi was still looking puzzled whenever he saw Durham chatting around with any of the girls. The wolf just couldn't understand how the coyote had gotten along so well with everyone but Louis. He also noticed that Juno stopped being so upfront towards him for whatever reason, she definitely looked far less enthusiastic whenever they had a conversation, even making random questions like his favorite types of food or even hobbies. He found himself way less hesitant to respond to such questions when she wasn't dreamingly staring into his face. Not to mention he could tell some of his friends were getting a bit upset with the way he treated the wolf girl so far. Sure, she could be a bit overebearing sometimes, but they expected him to at least understand she has feelings and not to just ignore her so blatantly.

Legosi did consider her new behavior being due him hurting her feelings somehow. He didn't mean to upset her, he just didn't want her to be on his tail all the time. He wasn't sure how to talk with Juno without making things awkward for both of them. He knew he had to tell her off somehow, it was obvious that she wanted to get things on the next level with him, something that it simply did not make sense to Legosi. They barely knew each other. Perhaps talking with Juno about those feelings would help clarify the situation. He just wasn't sure he could do it by himself.

_'Maybe I should talk with Durham. He could help me get around this, at least it's a better option than the others. Jack, despite his best intentions, would most likely just tease me alongside Collot and Miguno. I don't even think Voss would care that much.'_

The wolf was on his way to talk with Durham, he just didn't expect to find the coyote talking with a dumbstruck Shiira.

"You must be joking. Are you for real?" She asked, perplexed and suspicious while narrowing her eyes at him. Durham shurgged inocently.

"It's all honest from my part. Can you? I'm just trying to help him out. Guy's really nervous around girls and I need him to get out of his safety shell. Some learning would do him good. I just cannot think of anyone more qualified than you to get him out of his bubble."

Shiira gave the coyote a long hard stare, she seemed very umcomfortable all of sudden.

"Yeah, I'm... not sure. Let me think about it. I don't usually hear this kind of request anym- anyways. Any particular reason for this favor?" She asked with her arms crossed. Durham could tell she was tense for whatever reason.

"Jack is kinda hitting the dumps and I really could use someone to join me in the first weekend of the Summer Festival. He needs to get out more and starting by talking with someone else other than his roommates or classmates would help him greatly. Nothing personal aside helping a friend or two. Besides, I think you could use something to distract yourself with, just don't use him as a lawn mower." He added with a knowing smirk.

"Pfff, fine." She replied with a sly smile of her own. "I will see any time I can schedule for that. Just make sure to let him know I'm not putting up with any BS."

"Fair enough. Say, you sure you don't need any help? I feel bad just sitting around while you're eroding due the amount of people and things to deal with." He asked, sounding genuinely concerned for her mental health. The cheetah sighed while doing some stretching exercises to alleviate her sore muscles.

"Yeah, I can handle for now. Thanks though. You're quite some guy Durham, I just wish _some people_ were more like you." She remarked, a low growl emanating from her throat. The coyote raised an eyebrow at that. "Sorry, I'm just very pissed with some of them, especially Tao."

This perked the coyote's interest. He was about to dwell further into that until the voice of Legosi called him from somewhere at the back.

"Huh, hey Durham. Are you busy?"

The coyote turned around, surprised at hearing the wolf addressing him after days of silence. His last fallout with Louis made the relationship between both canines certainly awkward.

"Need anything Legosi? I'm not really busy, but I was having a nice talk here with lovely Shiira." He replied while winking at the female. She scoffed at him in return. The gray wolf seemed even more confused than usual, he glanced in between them unsurely.

"I guess I better get back to work, I will leave you boys alone. All good with the light set up Legosi?" She asked towards the distracted wolf. He blinked for a moment before replying hesitantly.

"Uh, sure. I just finished setting the cables on the columns. I can work the color patterns once the acting team decides their chronogram."

"At least something is working perfectly." She replied, relieved that there is one team actually getting the job done properly. " Well done, I will work on those chronograms as soon the setting and design are done with their tasks. Thanks Legosi."

"Ahn, it was nothing, really." He replied, scratching the back of his neck nervously. Durham smiled at his reaction. He waited until Shiira walked away before talking with the wolf.

"Not used to compliments from nice girls, are you?" He teased with a cheeky grin. Legosi mumbled something under his breath. "Explains why Juno makes you so jumpy."

"Right, about that. I need your help with Juno." Legosi said tiredly. Durham's curiosity peaked at this request from the introverted wolf.

"Now that sounds like fun. What do you need me for?"

"Huh, it's... well, I need to tell her how I do not feel the way she may think I do."

"Oh, I see. Yeah, that might suck, but at least you're willing to not let her find out in a bad way I guess. Say, why don't we do that now?"

"N-Now?! B-But I...

"HEY JUNO!"

Legosi paled as the wolf girl standing few meters away turned around, surprised at having her name shouted all of sudden by the coyote. She was in the company of two other females who also looked their way.

"Yes?" She asked uncertainly, worried of what caused her name to be spoken so loudly by the usually calm canine.

"Come over here, we need to talk for a second or a minute, whatever long it takes anyway."

Juno nodded slowly before excusing herself from the presence of her female companions. She quickly took notice of Legosi standing awkwardly next to Durham as she approached them. She was starting to get suspicious about this odd little reunion.

"Glad you could join us." Durham said rather enthusiastically once she was standing by their side. Legosi reacted with a deadpanned look aimed at the coyote. "Legosi here wants to discuss about feelings and stuff."

Both boys winced at the sudden look of elation the female wolf displayed, her tail swishing sideways. She gave her undivided attention towards the taller gray wolf. Legosi played with his hand sheepishly, struggling to come up with words that could get him started.

"It's... just... I... Juno, you see... I may have, huh... given you the wrong idea." He said nervously. Juno's smile faltered for a second, she stared expectantly at him for an explanation. "Don't get me wrong, I know you probably might think of me as someone to be looked after or, well... more closely than I would feel comfortable with."

"What doofus here is trying to say." Durham interjected, pointedly ignoring the glare from the male wolf. "Is that he doesn't really have that sort of feelings for you that you clearly tried so hard to express back at him."

Juno blinked a few times, looking at each of them with doubt and concern. Durham could tell she believed their words, just wasn't exactly having at good time hearing about it. The joyful expression on her face was gone, replaced with absolute sorrow. The coyote felt like a total ass for taking her hopes down, but it was better now than making it worse by ignoring the problem.

"I should've guessed." She replied morosely. Even Legosi looked regretful at this point, he didn't mean to make her sad. "I just... thought that both being gray wolves we..."

"Sounds fine, but a relationship goes far beyond than just being of the same species. I understand you might think gray wolves to secluded from society somewhat, but that ain't really the case for most adults. That's just my take on it, I'm not a gray wolf and can't really speak for one. Although that's what I'm doing right now." Durham added, narrowing his eyes at Legosi. The taller canine frowned.

"I don't mind you feel that way for me Juno. Don't think that I decline your attention because of who you are or how you look. I... barely know anything about you." Legosi couldn't help the frustration overcoming him a bit. "I helped you once, doesn't mean I'm interested! I probably would've helped whoever or whatever they were. It's not right what they were doing, but that doesn't mean I would be the only one to ever do something nice for someone else. There are other good people in this campus, even if you're a gray wolf they would still do something to get you out of trouble."

Juno nodded quietly once Legosi calmed down a bit. Durham was slightly impressed the wolf managed to talk this much without stuttering.

"I should go." She whispered more to herself before turning around and walking away at a rapid pace. Legosi and Durham exchanged looks of concern.

"I hope she's going to be alright." Legosi commented, looking at her departure with sadness.

"I just don't understand why you don't give her a chance. What's about her that doesn't suit with you?" Durham asked, regarding the wolf with a scrutinizing look.

"It's complicated."

"Oh, cut the shit, will you?!" Exclaimed the coyote, Legosi's eyes widened in shock. "I had it with your edgy behavior Legosi! You never talk about anything with any of us! You're always hunched around looking sorry about yourself! It's like you've been living you days like you've been ordered to instead of having joy about it! I never saw you talk with a single girl unless they asked for something, you barely talk with anyone but your roommates! I get you're probably an introvert and a bit shy, but this is ridiculous! Man up already!"

"Man up?Man up?!" Legosi growled back at him. "What makes you think you know why I'm like this?!

"I would if you spoke your damn mind for once! You didn't even have the balls to tell Juno you don't like her without my help!"

Their shouting was starting to garden the attention of all the other presents around. They regarded the duo with flabbergasted expressions.

"What the hell is going on here?" Asked an annoyed cheetah. She took notice of both Legosi and Durham having a heated argument right away. "Are you two serious?! I left for five minutes and you two are at each other's throats!?"

Her complain fell on deaf ears as both canines continued to argue incessantly. Shiira was about to scream at them until Ellen decided to step up.

"Don't worry. I got this." She said while passing by and heading towards the upset duo. Everyone was immediately concerned to see an Herbivore butting into a carnivore hassle.

"Ellen, what you're gonn-

"SIT!"

Ellen kicked both males right at the abdomen area. They doubled over and fell to the floor, moaning in pain while clutching their stomachs.

"WHAT THE HELL ELLEN!" Shouted few of the crew members. She regarded them with an impassive stare.

"What? I was just calming them down. They will surely learn to leave their stupid arguments elsewhere." At this the zebra glowered at the canines laying on the ground. "Isn't that right?!"

"Fuuuuuckk... youuuuuu" Moaned Durham, still struggling to breath properly. Ellen chuckled at his reply.

Legosi and Durham remained on recovery for few more minutes. The other members left once assured the duo was going to be alright. Shiira was looking far too amused to bother with anything. She shared a personal joke with the zebra, Ellen laughed lightly while standing near the downed canines.

Legosi was having a hard time processing the fact he just got owned by a zebra girl. He couldn't believe the amount of power behind that kick, not to mention he couldn't understand how Durham survived her punches for so long.

_'So much to be worried for Herbivores not being able to stand up for themselves. Urgh, it has been some time since I felt this much amount of pain.'_

"You kick like a girl." Durham said from his laying spot, smiling far too much to be looking any sane. Legosi glanced at him, shocked that he dared to say such a thing, but much to his utter puzzlement Ellen just replied with a roll of tongue. "Heh, just you wait. Revenge will be mine."

"Sure, I'm shaking just thinking about it." The zebra replied with a mix of humor and challenge. "How you feeling?"

"Eh, like I had to be a goalie but without being able to move at all. Just like another day in the field. Getting a ball up to the stomach is nothing new. I will live. What about you Legosi?" He asked while directing his attention to the wolf nearby.

"Huh, I... I will be fine. I suppose." His attention shifted towards the zebra. "I wasn't aware that zebras could be this strong." Ellen shrugged.

"We, equines, usually are. No biggie. Just you two need to be more on your game, Durham looks nearly new while-

She stopped as the coyote grunted his disagreement with that statement.

"Just because I'm an athlete it doesn't mean I can endure this much abuse."

"That's what you get for making a scene here." Ellen replied with a scowl on her face. "What's the big idea? Shiira has enough troubles to deal with without having two male carnivores on the edge of a fight."

"I fucking know that." Replied a moody coyote. Ellen simply stared at him, clearly not satisfied with his explanation. "Legosi dumped Juno."

Ellen gasped for a moment, she regarded the wolf with confusion and concern.

"I didn't dump her." Retorted the wolf with annoyance. "We never dated to start with. I just told her I'm not really interested on her, that's all."

"Yeah, cause you couldn't have balls to- OOWW, FUCK!"

The coyote hissed in pain as Ellen just finished delivering a light quick to his hip.

"Cut it Durham. No more of that while we are in here. I'm not joking." The zebra warned severely. Durham was starting to regret helping the wolf at this point, especially cause that was getting him into a state of anger he wasn't really good at dealing with.

_'So much for being calm and cool about things. Why I'm even this upset? Sure, I care about Juno but Legosi is like my roommate and a close friend.'_

"You know what? Fine, not my problem really. Go handle your own social problems Legosi, don't know why I even bothered." The coyote stood up slowly, massing his chest as he felt aching preventing him from making natural movement. "I got my own problems to worry about. Get upset all you want, it's not like I have to understand your issues, you never talked about them anyway."

"Durham."

"Piss off." Was all he said before walking away.

Ellen watched his depart with worry. She never saw him this upset and it worried her that such behavior could've been flared by the way she treated the situation.

"I will go after him. Are you sure you will be alright Legosi?"

"..."

"Legosi?"

"Huh?Y-Yeah, I will be... fine. Don't worry."

Ellen wasn't really taking his word for it, but she left nevertheless. She quickly explained her early leave to Shiira, the cheetah was fine with her leaving early since Ellen was a commited member of the team anyways. She rushed outside after the coyote, but much to her dismay he was nowhere to be seen.

_'How?!How he managed to disappear so quickly?'_ She thought, frustated at losing him from sight. _'I hope I can talk with him tomorrow. At least after the play anyways. Hopefully everything will go alright and he will have calmed down. Just don't you do anything stupid you damn coyote.'_


	11. Chapter 11 - Undenied Fears

"What in the absolute hell was that shit?! Are you two fucking kidding me right now?!

"Shiira, it was just-

"Shut up! All of you!! You better be thankful Louis saved this fucking dooming disaster!! I had it with yours and everyone else's bullshit!!!"

"Shiira, wait!"

"Let her go. It won't do any good to annoy her, she won't listen. Give her some time to cool her head. You all were picking on her nerves anyways, at least most of you."

"Like you don't do that to literally everyone Durham."

"What can I say? I'm a charming guy."

"Pff, fucking coyote."

Durham stared at Tao for few seconds while elaborating a proper response, but before he could say anything Ellen decided to take matters on hand and punched the black panther right on the face. He stared back in shock, a hand holding over his bruised cheek.

"Join the club Tao." Said a disgruntled Bill few meters away. The tiger has been mostly quiet ever since he left the stage after being told off by Louis. His face was looking way worse after the amounts of beating it took from Legosi. Said wolf wasn't faring any better, some outraged gasps were heard when the wolf was requested to remove his shirt. The injuries on his back were scary enough considering what they witnessed onstage.

"All of you, insane and dangerous carnivores." Said Mina, the female giraffe was staying far away from the group, standing nearby Moro, Zao and few other herbivores.

The commotion onstage had the Herbivores on a quiet panic fit. No one could blame them considering that the act performed was not planned at all. Legosi and Bill were at each other's throats. Nothing scared a Herbivore more than Carnivores fighting or Carnivores chasing Herbivores with unknown intent.

"What you're talking about? Nothing here is more dangerous than a moody zebra." Replied the coyote with a chuckle. Mina glowered at him as a response.

Durham could only lament that he managed to befriend only the majority of the members of the club. Mina was amongst the very few that have zero trust on care for his presence. She was part of the group that would constantly bother Ellen to sit with them in class whenever the zebra decided to stay near the coyote. Durham learned to let some lost causes alone for the time. Eventually Mina would grow up to tolerate him at some point.

"This is not the time for jokes Durham. These two nearly made a very messy problem for all of us, we should thank the stars that the crowd thought of it as an actual play. Right now Legosi's back is ruined and Bill's face makes him look like a puffed kitty." Ellen chastised, but her mention of Bill's face had only the effect of humoring the coyote. "This is not funny Durham!"

"Says you. I'm used to getting beaten up, but damn. Legosi, where all that anger came from? You looked like a total badass."

Legosi looked away in shame, there was nothing on him that suggested that he was proud of what happened. Els and Dom were treating to his wounds the best they could. It would do no good to show up at the medical wing with such terrible scratches on his back.

"Badass? Is that how you describe this savagery?" Came the voice of a disdainful deer nearby. Durham rolled his eyes at the incoming lecture. "May I remind you of the values that we-

"Don't care. Never asked."

"Durham! This behavior has to stop!" Came the agitated request from Sanu, the current president of the Drama Club. The pelican had been mostly neutral in regards to the coyote's presence in their storage house, but it was clear that today's near disaster has everyone in a really stressed mood. "We uphold strong values here and you make less of everything we strive for. If you can-

"Don't care. Never asked."

Sanu's beak opened in shock. He stared at the coyote as if he never saw anything like it in his entire life. Ellen regarded him with weariness.

"You... don't care about us?'

"Gez, I never said that. Look, you can hold all the values or whatever tradition you want. I personally don't really care about that stuff, as long you're not trying to screw me over or worse I'm good with whatever. If you're the type of person who can't chill or take a joke then I have no reason to waste my time talking with you. I do jokes when I feel like it, I'm not out to be an ass but rather help to set a better mood. If you're offended by it you can eat a cactus for all I care."

The perplexed looks on their faces irritated the coyote. There was nothing unreasonable about what he just said.

"Are you always this smooth? I could've sworn I was talking with a different coyote these last few weeks." Ellen asked, a humored expression that had the coyote chuckling.

"Nah, just weekends. I get bored quick since nothing really interesting happens. Speaking of interesting things... what about the PE offer I made to you? Still thinking on it?"

"Yeah, Just getting used to it, I don-

"Uh, excuse me? Aren't we adressing what just happened minutes ago?" Asked Kai, clearly annoyed at the sudden change of topic. "I think you two can discuss whatever later on."

"Alright, fair point." Durham turned around towards the cowered Herbivores. "Are you all just going to cuddle there? Come and share a hug with us!" The coyote opened his arms on a welcoming gesture. His only response was a fair amount of disdainful scoffs. "Okay then."

"Are you done degrading our club? We have more settling matters to solve and your devaluation isn't helping anyone." Louis butted in much to Durham's exasperation.

"You say you uphold values of what exactly?" Durham asked, looking at Louis with intrigue. The deer wasn't able to form a proper response before the coyote continued. "We all grew up with different views of life or the world itself. Personally I do not care what other animals will think of me if I decide that I want to marry an herbivore or dye my fur green. Who fucking cares? I get everyone has a reason to be afraid, but maybe we could try to understand more about each other instead of hiding behind the wall of fear."

"But instinct is..." Durham groaned. He hated when people brought up that excuse.

"Is instinct a feeling? Or actually something you control? Do we even understand what causes it? Mina, aren't you afraid of mirrors?" The coyote suddenly asked towards the giraffe. Mina bit her lip apprehensively.

"Well, yes. I am."

"Why?"

"Why?! Because... huh... it's... complicated."

"No, it isn't. Be honest with us and yourself. What makes you afraid of it. It's your own image, or that you might see something that it's not there?"

Mina didn't respond right away, her eyes travelled across the room full of animals looking at her with all sorts of expressions. Her resignation was plainly visible.

"I... fear that if... I might see a Carnivore behind me. It might be the last thing I see before I die."

A heavy silence fell over the area, several students exchanged worried and sympathetic glances. Durham nodded, observing the quiet commotion it caused.

"I find that perfectly reasonable. Say, how many Herbivores here believe that one of the Carnivores of this club might kill you?"

"What kind of question-

"That applies to you too, Louis." Durham said, quickly cutting of the deer's protest. He frowned but acknowledged the question with extreme reluctance. "Just raise your hand if you believe a Carnivore of this club might kill you."

The coyote awaited as all Herbivores, including Ellen and Louis, raised their hands. Much to his surprise, and several others, a good number of Carnivores also raised their hands. Bill, Riz, Tao, Legosi and Kai didn't raise their hands, but Juno, Aoba and few others did. Shiira wasn't present but surely she would've been in that group.

"But you're Carnivores!" Mina said, confused and annoyed at seeing Carnivores raising their hands alongside Herbivores. "It makes no sense to think another Carnivore would hunt you!"

"Actually..." Louis started, causing every single animal present to look at him instantaneously. "There has been regular cases of predation even amongst Carnivores. For whatever reason they started happening more often these last few years."

No one questioned him despite the clear looks of disbelief from several other Herbivores. Some Carnivores were actually surprised to hear that such events happened in their own kin. Louis shared a knowingly glance with the coyote, who only nodded in return.

"I do wonder." Durham started , looking at each animal present with the same passiveness he usually displays. "Once we all graduate and leave the campus... are we going to spend the rest of our lives wondering which one of us will eat the other someday?"

A strong feeling of unease and dread spread across all the presents. Worried glances were being aimed at all sides, no one knew how to respond to that question. Even Louis seemed uncomfortable to elaborate any kind of proper thought process. The coyote realized that no one was really keen on arguing the point, he decided to push further into this problematic aspect.

"Some might say that instinct is the main reason for the whole predatory thing. Just as Herbivore's instinct is to run away from danger if possible. Yet, there has to be something that triggers that instinct. Say, Aoba?"

The eagle student blinked at being suddenly addressed, he stared wearily towards Durham.

"Yes?"

"Does the sight of any Herbivore triggers you a feeling of wanting to devour them?"

"Huh, no? Not at all." He responded slowly. Aoba wondered what the coyote was trying to get at with such questions. Durham chuckled, nodding as he looked around for another animal to interrogate.

"Say, _Bill_." Durham called with a certain edge to his voice. Several presents held their breaths, sensing the tension rising exponentially. Durham had his eyes narrowed towards the Tiger, a clear sign of animosity instilled that was poorly concealed on the coyote's expression. "Does the smell and the taste of blood triggers you any kind of feeling? A strong and powerful, but inexplicable, desire?"

Bill wanted to be literally anywhere at this point. He kept his gaze away from the others, but his sudden stiffness at being under the spotlight of such troublesome interrogatory had the tiger cornered.

"Yes." Bill replied. Ellen watched the display with sadness. She couldn't ever say that she agreed with Bill using Herbivore blood as a catalyst to his anxiety. The pressure of being the animal responsible for playing as Adler clearly was too much for him, but to go such lengths for a confidence boost was just intolerable.

"Bill, do you understand that using that drug on yourself could've ended far worse than two Carnivores beating at each other?! Do you fucking even thought for a second that you could've lost control of your senses and _killed someone?!" _

The tiger did not reply. He just stood motionless, looking at anything but anyone. Several glances of disapproval and disappointment were sent his way, but none of it was ever acknowledged. Durham sighed. He was beyond pissed with Bill, exclusively due the fact that he could've gone wild and hurt someone. The coyote shivered to think that Ellen was the one at most risk since she has been on the play near him almost all the time. Durham wouldn't spare words if someone dared to endanger her.

"Honestly Bill, where did you even get the fucking blood? Who gave it to you? That crap is forbidden and for a fucking obvious reason! Whoever is distributing that is clearly dangerous and has no care for the consequences. I hope Louis looks into this personally." Durham eyed the deer with expectancy, but Louis first reaction was a huff of annoyance.

"I personally do not care if he drugs himself. Both of them stained my stage with blood." The deer replied, looking far too calm about the whole ordeal. Durham did not feel instinct, but a sudden urge to punch the deer's teeth out. "Both of you have disgraced th-

"SHUT THE FUCK UP LOUIS!"

The deer's ears folded backwards, his eyes widened in fear as an enraged zebra screamed at his face. Her deafening shout scared almost every single animal that was witnessing the scene.

"Nobody fucking cares about this fucking wooden floor! You overzealous piece of meat!"

Durham stared agape at the zebra, unsure of how to react to her words and fearsome attitude. Several other members were deeply shocked by her actions, some even stared in amazement. An Herbivore addressing another of his own kin as a piece of meat had to be the most alienate thing anyone ever heard.

Truly more shocking than Ellen's sudden proverbial assault was Louis frightened stance. Never before the deer displayed such in front of anyone, being an example of calm and collected no matter how tense the situation he got himself involved into.

"If wooden planks are more of value to you than our damn lives you can shove your fucking Adler's mask up your sorry ass!"

And just like that Ellen stomped away in unspeakable anger. Durham didn't dare to say anything nor anyone else. Seeing Shiira leaving upset was one thing, but Ellen was on a whole other level of a maelstrom of fury.

Durham watched her kick the door brutally on her way out, leaving a very large crack on the spot she aimed at. He whistled after the zebra was out of sight.

"Now that's a hell of a fine woman right there. Don't you all agree?"

It was just too precious to see everyone look at him as if he was some sort of psychopath.

"You two are totally meant for each other." Said Bill with a bitter snort. The coyote raised an eyebrow at his tone. Something else had Bill bothered and it had nothing to do with what happened onstage.

Louis was noticeably quiet. His terrified face slowly shifted into something hard to describe, the deer glanced at his sides as if looking for something, but returned his attention back to Legosi.

"How's your back?" He asked. Such question caught the gray wolf off guard.

"M-Me? I, uhhh, better, I think. Still stings a bit, but I will get on eventually. Els did a good job with the bandages." The wolf smiled appreciatively towards the female alpaca. Els giggled nervously. She was still too much appalled by the events that transpired. 'Why do you ask?" Louis crossed his arms while frowning.

"Well, we cannot have you dying on us now, can we? Besides, I will need to talk with you and Bill personally after everyone has left. Just don't drag yourself on the floor for too long." The deer said before walking away towards his office. "Don't forget to clean up the stage tomorrow, both you and Bill. It's your mess after all."

Legosi grimaced, making an effort to stand up despite the aches on his body. Durham approached him while throwing a meaningful look towards Els. She nodded quietly before walking away towards the group of Herbivores that were still keeping their distance.

"That's going to leave some scars Legosi." The coyote murmured quietly as he observed the injuries on the wolf's back. "You sure you don't want to go to the Hospital Wing? They can have you properly set and minimize the size of the scars."

"I will be fine." Was the wolf's only response. Durham rolled his eyes at the predictable reply.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that. You could've just ended Bill without much of an issue, but for whatever reason you decided to give up on the fight. Who cares there's a bunch of people watching? You should've have finished him off. By that I mean knock him unconscious. It's a miracle he didn't turn wild by using the fucking drug. What a moron."

"He had his reasons." Legosi relented much to Durham's indignation.

"Don't you dare. He had it coming and you went easy on him. Still, this isn't the kind of behavior you would ever display unless there's something going on with you. I don't get why Bill using a drug could cause such reaction on you. What's the real reason for you attacking Bill? What are you hiding there Legosi?"

The amount of questions that were bearing dangerously close to the truth made the wolf nauseous. He desperately tried to think of a way to divert the conversation to less dangerous waters.

"Y-Yeah. I know. Durham... I was wondering... do you..."

"Me, what?" Durham said somewhat playfully. He always found it funny when Legosi was making an effort to save face by asking embarrassing questions.

"Have you... seen Juno?" Legosi clearly didn't enjoy asking about the girl after what happened last time they met. Durham decided to let the wolf off the hook this time and play his game.

"Nah, she's been missing for few hours. I'm sure she watched the play. Be hopeful she wasn't drooling on seeing you with less clothes than usual." The coyote smirked at the possibility. Legosi's reaction was a pitiful groan.

"I hope not. But... I kinda want to talk with her. I feel really uneasy by how I, well, _dismissed_ her attention." He explained while adjusting his loosened pants. "I should get changed."

"Make sure you have a towel or something to put underneath the uniform. Blood on white is a pain to remove." Durham advised, chuckling as he remembered a particular situation that he dealt with such issue. "Say, I need to go check on Shiira. Poor girl must be going up the walls. I rather have her calmed down before encountering J-

Durham immediately stopped talking, realizing almost too late that he was not supposed to be talking this kind of stuff around so lightly. Legosi narrowed his eyes, seemingly confused by what he just heard.

"Encountering who?" The wolf asked, his genuine expression of curiosity made Durham guilty for having to lie so openly.

"Ahn, his name's Jordan. Kinda on the same club as me. He wanted to learn how to dance and I suggested that Shiira could help him with that." The coyote smiled, proud of his quick thinking. "Though I promised him I would keep it a secret, he's very shy and all of that. Can't you not spread this out?"

"Oh, alright. Of course I won't. Don't worry about it." Legosi said, a sheepish smile appearing on his face. "Huh, Juno actually asked me to help her with dancing lessons for the Summer Festival. I... just don't know if I should if Shiira can handle that better than me."

Durham wasn't sure Legosi should either. Juno was not in the best of minds at the moment and dealing with Legosi on a personal occasion could only damage their interactions further. He honestly wished the wolf would just quit being silly and talk with the girl more openly. It wouldn't hurt to known Juno a bit better.

"Say, Durham. Shouldn't you go after Ellen? I've never seen anyone this angry without them being a Carnivore. I... she wasn't wrong about what she said to Louis-senpai." The wolf admitted, the conflicted look on his face was enough for Durham to understand that Legosi was struggling to perceive who really was on the right. "I wonder if Louis will have anything to say to her. She was really loud and it kinda scared him, something that I never thought I would actually see."

"You and me." Durham said in approval. "Yeah, I have to let her go on her own for few minutes. I don't feel like breaking bones for trying to talk with her. You know how she is. She doesn't take BS from anyone."

Legosi smiled, a reaction that made Durham intrigued.

"What?"

"You like her, don't you?"

"Yeah, of course. She's a total badass." The coyote laughed at his own description. Legosi shook his head.

"I meant it in a love sense."

"..."

Durham glanced around to make sure no one was nearby, thankfully most members had vacated the area, leaving only him and Legosi standing at backstage. He returned his attention back to the wolf, feeling uncomfortable at seeing Legosi staring back at him with that eerie passive expression of his.

"Say, Legosi... how about we make a deal?"

**A/N: Sorry for the delay. I had to rewrite some things and got caught up on work. See ya'll next week. Also thank you reviewers for the attention and time spent to write words of acknowledgement! :)**


	12. Chapter 12 - A Short Step To Acceptance

"Ah!! So, so sorry!"

"That's the third time already. Are you sure you're okay with this? I've taught animals that were a bit shaky at the start, but not complete marshmallows."

"Y-Yeah! I-I mean, sure. I will just, huh, do something more, I don't know! Maybe you could try showing me again?"

"Sounds fine by me. Now I understand why Ellen was so mad when Durham stepped on her, this really stings."

"Urgh, I'm really sorry Shiira."

"How about we make a deal? I teach you how to dance and you stop apologizing for every silly mistake. Is that good enough for you?"

"Huh... yeah. I will try."

The cheetah sighed. When she gave her word to Durham that she would teach his canine friend how to dance she expected something less frustrating. Jack was an absolute pile of anxiety. She tried her best to work around his weird personality. Sometimes he could go from chipper to absolute devasted in the blink of an eye. She had to admit he was endearing somewhat despite his unspoken fear of getting close to her. She was still trying to get him to do the most basic lessons, but every time they made physical contact Jack would just turn into a bamboo and go extremely pale. Shiira saw her fair share of shy animals, but Jack was establishing himself on a whole new level.

For his credit he did manage to follow some basic steps, even at the cost of the girl's feet. Thankfully he was lightweight, otherwise she probably would've given up by the third time he stepped on her. Jack was just a tad bit shorter than her, but the labrador was doing a very good job on avoiding eye contact. Any other day of the month she would've been extremely upset by this kind of behavior, but after the near disaster of the last weekend she just wanted to get her mind off the Drama Club and focus more on her own ambitions. Being patient was going to be a basic requirement if she ever decides to pursue a career as a dancing teacher.

Jack tried his best to follow her steps, both animals had their hands holding each other. His initial internal crisis, caused by the suddenness of their physical approach, had finally dissipated. The canine struggled to mimic her stances despite her constant orientation, but the blame was purely on him for being often distracted by the situation he found himself at. Jack was afraid that looking directly at Shiira, especially while being this close, would lock him into an embarrassing trance that he would quickly regret.

"Focus on your breathing, keep it steady, don't think too hard about what's around you, just feel the movement flow and keep relaxed through the motions." She said while pulling him into a slow spin. Jack nodded quietly as he tried his best to not trip over his own feet or hers. "Don't worry about getting it right in the first day, this takes a certain amount of practice anyways."

"Huh, does that mean we're going to do this kind of thing more often?" He asked shakily. The cheetah chuckled at the silly question.

"Of course. Might take few days but I can help you get settled for a basic dance. At least enough for you to not embarrass yourself with whoever you're looking to dance with."

Jack only replied with a sheepish smile of his own. He wished he could have the courage to say something smart, but anything he said at this point would simply give away his intentions.

"Speaking of embarrassing yourself." The started, adjusting Jack's posture as the Labrador started to lose the grip on her. "Have you seen Durham? I normally wouldn't ask but we've got used with having him around. Also Ellen has been quietly upset, which it's worrisome if you ask me. Ellen never goes quiet if she's upset with something or someone."

Jack's sudden crestfallen expression caught the cheetah off guard. She stopped guiding him as the canine clearly got too upset to pay attention to what was happening.

"About that... " Jack's voice was barely audible, the tone of sadness had Shiira on edge. "Durham got suspended from the Sports club."

"Wait, what?!" She asked loudly. Sure, Durham could be a mouthful at times and quite uncaring to social standards, but nothing about the coyote would ever suggest him to do something so inflicting to earn him a club suspension. "Why?"

"I... kinda don't like saying this, but... he got suspended under the allegations that he was being disruptive and demoralizing students, also he was presenting himself as dangerous towards herbivores and carnivores."

Shiira stared at him dubiously. Durham? Dangerous? Disruptive and Demoralizing? Was that actually serious?

"But... who even said such things?" The cheetah asked, fully understanding why Ellen had been so off lately. Jack shrugged, the despondent look on his face was very telling on how upset he was for his friend. She couldn't help but feel sympathetic to his feelings on the matter.

"That was what the notification he got from the Academy three days ago had it written. The complains were set under anonymous for the sake of protection and all of that standard procedure stuff. I just... don't know what to think. I want to help him, but this is way above me or any of the others. He... that's going to damage his chances at a career really bad."

Shiira crossed her arms, a thoughtful frown on her face as she tried to place the pieces together. It was too much of a coincidence this happened a day after Durham's comments after the Adler's presentation show. She would bet her student ID on it that the complaint originated from someone inside the Drama club.

'_But who?' _She wondered internally._ 'I can think of few that don't really like Durham, but the others were never bothered by his presence. Surely not any of the girls. They all seem to like him, surprisingly. Even Mina softened to him. Never imagined I would hear her asking about where the coyote is. That Durham sure can leave an impression when he wants to. At least it's the good kind of impression, unlike Louis. Speaking of him, I wouldn't put it past Louis to complain, but he knows how bad such complains can damage a person and those claims are just too absurd. Louis wouldn't go that far.' _

"How is he faring with this situation?" She asked. Jack scratched one of his ears, a thoughtful look on his face that surprised her. His mood swings at each different topic were mind blowing.

"Eh, I don't really know how to describe it. He kinda reminded me of Legosi, quiet and distant. Sometimes even less talkative than Legosi, which is quite something if I must say. He won't say it, but... I'm sure he's feeling very betrayed at what happened. He's thinking on doing something, but I fear what that might be. Durham is unpredictable."

"You think he would go after whoever gave him away?" Shiira asked worriedly. Last thing she wanted was another crime scene involving the Drama club. She wouldn't put past Durham the possibility of vengeance. Yes, she believed things could end really bad, especially since this denouncing act had the coyote's future compromised. Jack didn't think that way.

"No. Durham may be a little on the odd side but he wouldn't go far as to hunt someone down. It's not like him at all. I'm sure he will get around it eventually. He always do when things get difficult."

"Ain't that the truth." Shiira had to admit when remembering the efforts the coyote had to do in regards to gaining Ellen's trust and friendship. The zebra had privately shared her encounters with the coyote with the cheetah and Els. The three girls would always keep tabs on whoever they encountered just to make sure if anything bad happened they would have a lead to go after. They decided to do such after what happened with Tem. "Still, I will ask around to see if I get anything on who might have done it. I wouldn't doubt that someone from my club was the responsible."

"Yeah, I just don't see how will that change anything." Jack replied uncertainly.

"It doesn't. I just need to know who I can trust. I had enough issues just setting stage acts, but now having animals attacking someone's back? Not in my watch. If they have a problem with what Durham, or anyone, says then they are not fit to be in this club."

Jack couldn't help but stare in awe at how fierce and amazing she looked with that confident stance. He wished he could look as assured and determinated as the cheetah. He got so caught up on her body language that he failed to notice that she was looking back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"See something you like?"

The labrador blinked. It took him few seconds to understand what she just said. A near panic state almost consumed his soul.

"Whaaaa...?! Oh, no! No, no, no! I was just... huh... how do I explain this?!" He said mostly to himself. Shiira giggled as she watched the dog melt into puddim.

"You really need to tag along with a flirty joke. Otherwise any girl will be unsure of talking with you." Jack grimaced. She had a point and it relieved him that she was just messing around.

"Oh, yeah. I guess so. I kinda never really talked with girls aside my cousins. I really don't think I can do much to impress a girl anyways."

"You would be surprised. There's more to liking someone than just physical appearance and mo- errr, notable personality."

Jack raised an eyebrow at her odd choice of words. The cheetah seemed flustered for some reason and he wasn't sure what caused such reaction.

"Uh, sure? I thought personality was like the big deal of why you like someone."

"I-It is! It's just... trust is even a bigger deal." The cheetah paused, letting out a suffering sigh. "I wished I could trust the people I get involved with. I get disappointed very often."

"Oh." Jack regarded the saddened female with sympathy. "I'm sorry about that. I kinda understand it too. Sometimes I wonder about the friends I have. Legosi is like my best friend, but there are times that I wonder if he's hiding things from me. I respect his privacy, but I can't help on think of why he felt that it was necessary to keep some things to himself. Still, I rather not evaluate my friendship based on the amount we shared, but the joyful times we spent together."

_'Why can't more guys be like you, Jack? I wish your type was more often around.'_ The cheetah lamented despite being impressed by how loyal the canine is to his friends.

"Speaking of not talking things... have you seen Juno? I noticed that she doesn't show up anywhere near Legosi anymore."

Shiira grimaced. She didn't like to talk anything that regarded Juno recently. It was still upsetting to see the gray wolf female sulking whenever Shiira got a chance to see her. The cheetah wished she could offer advice to the girl but Shiira never had this kind of experience with anyone. The cheetah never felt that strongly about any other animal. At least not yet.

"Juno and Legosi had an argument. At least that much I could get from Durham and Ellen. Apparently Legosi just rejected her advances and Juno took it pretty bad. I mean, sure it sucks to be rejected, but I hope she would've moved on from this point. I worry she might end up doing something stupid. Yet, I cannot go around babysitting her. She has to overcome this pain on her own."

Jack frowned thoughtfully. Legosi wasn't the one to flat out reject someone even if they were being extremely insistent. The taller canine always worried about hurting other people and messing with Juno's feelings wasn't something he would do deliberately. Also it still made no sense as to why Legosi didn't want to get involved with Juno.

"You ever wonder why Legosi avoided Juno so much? I get she can be a bit straightforward to the point of being annoying at times." Shiira chuckled.

"You mean 'desperate'."

"I... well, it sounds rude to describe it like that. I rather not talk about her like if she's some... huh..."

"Bitch?" Jack gasped, staring in shock towards the cheetah. Shiira giggled at his cute reaction.

"Come on Jack, sure you are grown up enough to handle few swears. Or do you think of me as a big meanie?" She joked provocatively. The Labrador seemed uncertain of what to say, his eyes searched for some sort of distraction or anything to change the subject.

"Say, where's everyone? I thought your club had daily practices." The cheetah glared, unimpressed at his efforts to sway away from the previous topic. The canine gulped nervously as he found himself under a rather unnerving stare of hers.

"If you really want to know." She started, deciding to let him have his way this time. "They have the day off. Aoba, Tao and Bill are probably heading out somewhere. Not that I really care that much. It kinda bothers me to think all the carnivores can go whenever they want and all the others are stuck here. No wonder Ellen was also sulking after today's meeting. She hates being locked, no matter where. She's a proactive type after all. It was one of these occasions I wished Durham was here to look after her."

Jack's ears perked at the mention of the coyote. He stared suspiciously at the cheetah as he replayed her words in his head.

"Wait, what do you mean with wishing for Durham to be here for Ellen?" The canine asked slowly. Shiira nearly facepalmed as she realized that she talked way too much. "Wait! You know?!"

Shiira regarded him with a dubious look, clueless about what he was talking about.

"Huh, know about what?"

"Wha-? About Ellen and Durham! You know he has feelings for her?!" Jack asked rather excitedly. He never had the chance to talk about Durham's love interest with anyone, even Durham asked him not to bring it up. Finding out that Shiira was also on par with it made him extremely happy.

"Oh? You know it too?" Shiira asked back, realization dawning on her face. "And here I thought he was better at keeping secrets."

"How would I not know about my friend's love interest?" Jack replied, feeling a bit offended by her remark. Shiira scoffed.

"Do you know about Legosi's love interest?" Jack sighed in defeat. She had him there.

"Okay, I get your point. But isn't this great?!" He asked loudly, nearly making the cheetah jump. She couldn't help but smile at his doofy expression. "I was starting to think that none of us was going to get with anyone before we graduated! Also... what do you think?" He asked, his voice shifting from cheerful to concerned in the span of a second. His mood swings were starting to humour her. "Will they be alright even if they're different species?"

"Why wouldn't they? Even if Durham goes wild I wouldn't be impressed if Ellen beats him senseless before he managed to do anything he would regret forever." The cheeath asked, seemingly relaxed about the canine's concerns. Jack made a face at how natural she saw that to be a thing.

"I was looking at this from a more social perspective." Jack explained, a sorrowful expression on his face that told all Shiira needed to know.

"I see what you mean. No, I don't think they are the kind that would care or let that get to them in any shape or form. Both are too thick headed to have random animals get to them. Althought they could end up arrested for beating some poor idiot to near death."

Jack's alarmed face nearly made the cheetah laugh.

"You know I'm joking, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I.. I worry for them. I wish they can work out. I imagine Ellen doesn't know?" Jack asked expectantly. Shiira nodded to his incomplete question. "Oh, so just have to wait for them to figure it out."

"Speaking of figuring things out, Jack, why you wanted dancing lessons? Are you actually looking for some girl to impress?" Shiira couldn't help but ask. Jack nodded sheepshily.

"Yeah, basically that's what this is all about."

"Do I known this girl? I can tell she would be for some fun times by being with a guy like you." The cheeath said, offering an encouraging smile as she voiced her curiosity.

Jack didn't reply right away. He fully understodd what he was being asked but choose to think more carefully before replying.

"Yeah. You known her. I won't say her name right away. I want to keep it a surprise."

**A/N: Okay. So I have to drop some news about this story. Yes, I will keep updating it, no worries on that regard. BUT I will not be able to promise weekly updates as I was currently doing. I'm getting caught up with IRL things and I have other stories and community projects to work with. Tbh I could use a bit of a pause. Working on something for so long tends to wear me out so I could use a refresh before going full on it again. Also I've been struggling with time to write this and other stories I wanted to catch up with. I'm very thanful for those who have been following the story so far! You folks are the reason I kept putting more time into this than I actually had available and I thank ya'll very much! :3**

**On a further note I usually do reworks on past chapters for improvements on structure/grammar/storytelling, so I might go back to rework things or even add more to them without altering the story overall.**

**Cya! Have a great week! Until the next update!**


	13. Chapter 13 - A Word Out Of Place

"Is it true? Did she really broke up with him?"

"Yeah, she told me last night. I would advise to not bother her with questions. She's really not in good spirits right now."

"What happened anyways? Last I heard was that Aoba and Legosi came back later than usual. Is it true that-

"Yes. We don't know the details yet, but... if what Shiira told me is true, th-

"Both of you! Less talk! Are you done warming up?!"

Els and Juno jumped in fright at the sudden shout coming from somewhere close to where they stood at. Both quickly turned around, coming face to face with a very pissed off cheetah. Their only response was smiling awkwardly as they scrambled their brains in search of an excuse.

Shiira has been in a particular bad mood ever since she found out that Tao, alongside Bill, had been at the forbidden market downtown. The amount of yelling that Tao endured was nothing short of impressive. Her fury and indignation towards Tao scared even Louis away from the onslaught of profanities that surged from the cheetah's mouth. Everyone had been doing their best to avoid her until she managed to cool off. Unfortunately her bad mood persisted through several days, mostly due Tao's presence at the club.

Tao himself was in the lowest of spirits, he looked completely miserable ever since the incident and it was clear that he regretted following Bill to that forsaken area. He has been very quiet the last couple of days, barely talking with anyone and keeping himself hidden from Shiira as much as possible. It was notable that Tao was also avoiding Bill. The tiger suffered no repercussions from visiting the black market and that made all herbivores, and a few carnivores, very irritated. Louis, for whatever reason, decided to turn a blind eye to Bill's transgression of previously set rules and that made several members mutter angrily whenever the deer had his back at them.

Meanwhile, Ellen, not for the first time, entertained the idea of just quitting the drama club and trying out for the sports club but, with Durham's suspension, whatever motivation she had died out. Not to mention that she haven't spoken with the coyote ever since the Adler's second weekend presentation. The zebra asked for aid from Juno and Els, but both girls also had no signs of Durham for days. The only time they ever spotted the coyote was at the cafeteria, but reaching him was extremely difficult, especially since he would be quick on finishing his meals and leaving before they could get close enough to talk with him. Ellen was starting to get infuriated with his shitty avoidance attitude.

Juno was saddened to see so many bad things happening with her friends. She whished she could help Ellen or Durham somehow, but so many things were out of her range that it disheartened her to realize how incapable she is. The more Juno realized how powerless she is to help anyone, the better she understood of why Durham saw no value on Beastars. The unexpected heated shouts from Shiira towards Tao made Juno's view on her own society even worse. The female wolf was fully aware of why Shiira didn't want to relate with someone who would drive himself into a meat market. The cheetah had suffered enough from her past life, she also suffers with prejudice from herbivores. Shiira hated the possibility of someone thinking she was some kind of vicious beast that would murder anyone, which is why she lost her cool with Tao. Her hopes of having found someone that wouldn't pursue the temptations of flesh had been in vain.

"Where the hell is that damn coyote? I swear I'm gonna drag his ass here if he doesn't show up."

Juno and Els immediately turned around towards the source of the threat. The girls wanted any excuse they could get to look away from Shiira's deadly glare.

"Ellen? I don't think he's showing up yet. Or even if he will want to. Not after someone told him out." Els tried to reason with the zebra, but Ellen looked far from relenting.

"Like I care! I don't see the point of keeping himself away, if someone has a problem with Durham you can come and tell it to my face! Whoever you are you damn asshole!" The equine shouted loudly towards everyone that was present. Most members stared at her as if she had lost her mind. Shiira only shook her head at the display.

"If you really want to get things done you should just chase him down." The cheetah suggested. Ellen turned her head towards Shiira, surprised to hear the feline talking so calmly. "Whatever reason he has to be avoiding us won't be know unless you give him no choice. I'm pretty sure he would, at least, talk with you."

"Yeah, you're right. I will look around. See ya girls later." Ellen made her way towards the exit, but she found herself facing Louis instead.

"And where exactly are you going?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at the unexpected departure. Ellen frowned at him, irritated for being questioned for something that did not concern the deer. "Ellen, everyone has to prepare themselves for the upcoming Festival. Surely you wouldn't want to miss that?"

The touch of irony that permeated his voice made the zebra's blood boil. It took Ellen a lot of self control to not punch the upperclassman out of her way.

Juno, realizing the danger that Louis was walking himself into, decided to aid her friend by addressing the deer.

"Oh! Huh, Louis! I need to talk with you." The female wolf said somewhat urgently. Louis looked her way, puzzled at what had Juno so concerned. He stared her down for a second before coming up with a reply.

"If you say so. Meet me at my office after the t-

"It has to be now."

Louis quiet down at the sharp uncharacteristic tone that Juno used. She looked far more serious than he ever thought it would be possible, Juno wasn't the kind to show signs of being upset or angry. The deer huffed, bothered that he has no way of talking himself out of such request.

"Fine, then follow me. Ellen, get back to the line with Els." He ordered before turning around and making his way to the administration office. Ellen silently replied to him with a very rude gesture of her arms, such went unnoticed by the deer. Juno laughed quietly as she passed by a relieved zebra.

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"So, what has you so mindful? Hopefully this isn't about Legosi again." Louis asked warningly. The deer was busying himself with a glass of water, sitting on a rather comfortable chair while Juno stood across the other side of the table. She narrowed her eyes at the clear dismissive treatment he was giving her.

"No, it's not. It's about few other things. Mostly about the things that are happening in this school." Juno replied, keeping her eyes locked with his. She never noticed before how pretty the deer's eyes are. If only his personality could match his appealing appearance. The wolf couldn't lie to herself by thinking that Louis wasn't a rather attractive herbivore. It resembled her of Durham's admiration for Ellen. Both were exotic herbivores with their own respective qualities and flaws but, while Ellen was a strong and tempered zebra, Louis gave Juno the impression of a cold and judgemental individual.

The deer seemed far more interested once Juno revealed her concerns towards the school itself.

"Well, before I start... I decided that I don't ever want to be a Beastar."

Juno couldn't help the giggle once she saw Louis shocked expression. She was fully aware of how she previously revealed her intents of becoming a Beastar, especially when she had him pinned down on the floor few days ago. She didn't know why, but that moment was one she kept thinking about for several times. Something about Louis had her worked up, but she still couldn't figure out what this deer has on him that made her unnerved ever since.

Louis stood emotionless, observing the wolf with some akin to betrayal. His mind couldn't comprehend the sudden change of Juno's intentions. He actually was looking forward to see her trying hard to become a Beastar, even if he didn't put any faith that she would accomplish such. Hearing her giving up on it so blatantly was harder to take than he would ever imagine possible.

"That's it? Giving up so quickly? Did you suddenly realize how incapable you are to reach such level of importance?" He asked rather aggressively. Juno glowered at him, the edges of her mouth curling and showing a bit of teeth. The deer felt a bit anxious at her reaction, wondering how much it would take for Juno to finally snap at someone.

"Perhaps," She said, keeping her face of intimidation. "Or maybe I just came to realize how pointless it is to achieve such fallacy."

"Fallacy?! How dare yo-

"SHUT UP!"

Louis blinked in astonishment. Never he heard Juno shout at anyone before, neither he would be able to imagine such ferocity coming from her. Possible, yes, but not expected. The gray wolf had her arms trembling as she tried her best to calm herself, the way she stared icily at him being very unnerving.

"Louis." Juno said rather breathlessly. She was apparently amazed at herself for losing control momentarily. "What's the point of being a Beastar? Why would one think they can actually do anything that would change our society? You really believe you can stop the prejudice? The misjudgment? The murders?"

"I do not think, Juno. I know it! I will be the greatest Beastar this country has ever seen. What makes you think I can't?" Louis retorted, glaring at her with disdain. He wondered why she decided to talk nonsense of things she knew nothing about. Juno sighed, staring at him with incredulity.

"Aren't Beastars supposed to help others? To stop these bad things between Herbivores and Carnivores?" Louis nodded quietly.

"Yes, though there are several other things they also have to do."

"Tell me, Louis, how many did you save?"

"...what?"

"You want to be a Beastar, right?! How many you saved Louis?! Who you actually helped in this school? When have you ever step into a herbivore and carnivore conflict? Don't you dare lying to me! I asked many others that have been with you since you joined the academy. When you did anything more than just being a proud member of an acting club?"

Louis wasn't sure what kind of response she wanted. Was Juno expecting him to meddle into the conflicts that permeated their society since ages?

"I... I'm not sure what you're trying to imply here." Louis replied slowly. Juno huffed angrily at his lack of a satisfying response.

"Who killed Tem?"

Louis recoiled at the unexpected question. The topic of Tem was always a very sensitive one and most members knew better than to openly discuss it. Yet, Juno seemd to care less as she stared down at him with the most intimidating attitude he has ever seen from a female. He crossed his arms, unsure if he should even bother answering such question.

"Why do you expect me to know this? No one does."

"Why?! Why can't you try to find out then?! Is that it? A friend of yours was murdered under your nose and you're just gonna move on and leave it be?! Is that how you go at building yourself to be a Beastar? Someone murdered Tem and it is very likely it was someone from this club! Tem wouldn't have walked so late at night for no good reason! I knew him for two weeks, but I was able to learn more about how he did things than I learned any of what goes in your egocentric head!"

"Tem's death was a terrible incident th-

"Stop, Louis, please, stop!" Juno pleaded, looking at him with despair. Louis actually got a bit scared by her sudden change of tone. He heard some commotion outside and it was most likely caused by Juno's screams.

"Juno... calm down. Okay? What.."

"Beastars have been around for so long." The wolf said, her view becoming unfocused as she kept voicing her feelings on the matter. "I've been afraid of the outside for so long... and I also fear what's inside. It's not only predation incidents that scare me, but the aftermaths. Our parents tried to-

But the gray wolf was interrupted by the door been brutally forced open by a powerful kick. Both wolf and deer stared at the sudden entrance of a very crossed zebra. Ellen quickly recovered from the action, being caught off balance by how weak the door was from what she had previously assumed.

"Ellen! I told you to wait!" The irritated voice from Shiira came from outside the office.

"I ain't waiting around for the douchebag to hurt Juno! Besides, I wasn't even d-

Ellen stopped her tempestuous reply as she took notice of Juno standing on her feet, Louis was sitting at his chair behind the desk. Both were giving her bewildered looks. The sight was enough for Ellen to understand that nothing really bad was happening with anyone.

"Oh." She said rather awkwardly, her eyes traveling across the room for any signs of a fight, but nothing came to view. "I guess it was just a false alarm."

"Woah, Ellen, have you been working out? The door actually flew from the hinges." Bill asked humouredly as he inspected the damage. Ellen replied with a middle finger. "Heh, you're so cute when you're rude."

"Fuck off Bill. Unless you want to end up like the door."

"Oh, feisty. I like that."

Ellen glanced back at the tiger with incredulity. Hearing such sort of thing from him was far much more awkward than hearing it from Durham. She decided to ignore him for now and focused her attention back to a gobsmacked Juno.

"Are you alright? I mean, I heard you pleading from the other side of the storage house, not to mention all the shouting."

"Oh, huh, no, no. That was just...well, me and Louis were kinda having a serious discussion." Juno replied, looking clearly embarrassed by the unfold of events that her shouting caused. Louis snorted, mixed between feeling humored or upset by what just happened with his door. Ellen blinked.

"Okay... if you say so... were you confessing or something?"

"NO!" Both Juno and Louis shouted at the same time. They shared a quick glance before looking away. Ellen raised an eyebrow at the exchange.

"You two are looking very suspicious right now." She said with a devious smirk. Louis felt affronted that Ellen dared to think he would ever consider being with someone like Juno. A Carnivore no less. Juno giggled nervously, not really that worked up by Ellen's teasing.

"It's alright. We were just talking. I may have gotten a bit carried away."

"A bit?! Juno, no one ever heard you scream like that. It seemed far more than just 'a bit'." Ellen replied, looking at Louis expectantly. "Surely you don't have anything else to add to this? I would like to hear your side."

Louis never had the chance to reply. A familiar face that decided to pass through the empty space were once there was a fine wooden door.

"Hey, Louis. I liked the new decoration. I gotta say though, couldn't you have just opened a window or something?"

Ellen quickly turned around, her mouth agape as she saw Durham standing at the office's entry with that annoying smirk of his.

"Durham? I thought we wouldn't see you again." Juno said, surprised and somewhat happy that he finally decided to show up. Durham winked at her before turning his attention to a shellshocked Ellen.

"Hey, Stripes. Long time no see."

Ellen found no words to respond. A mix of feelings turning inside of her with the fury of a tornado. She wanted to do many things right now, the first being a well deserved punch to the coyote's face. Yet, for whatever reason, she couldn't bring herself to hit him this time.

"W-Where were you?..."

Durham felt awful at hearing the sad tone that she used. Her clear expression of hurt and disappointment was far more painful than the amount of times she punched him put together. He waved his arms meekly, seemingly at loss for words.

"I... was not in the right mind after what happened. I didn't want to end up being unpleasant to anyone. I needed some time to myself, also to talk with my family about what to do. I just recently decided to... well, just get back to normality, I guess. I... I'm sorry."

"You better be fucking sorry! You ass! I can't believe you avoided m-us!" She yelled at him, looking uncertain of whether to be mad or relieved. "I was about to chase after your stupid face! Should've done that a lot sooner!"

"Are you all done yelling?" Interrupted Louis, his face looking strange, as if he was struggling to maintain a blank expression. "I would kindly request for you all to leave and have someone to fix the door that Ellen just decided to... eh, replace."

Durham and Ellen both glanced at him briefly before resuming their conversation.

"Say, did you talk with your family?What they said about what happened?" Ellen asked, looking far more calmer. Louis frowned at their disregard for his request. He raised from his seat to address the situation more properly, but Juno stopped him by placing one of her hands on his shoulder.

_"I know a place were we can finish this conversation. Let them be for now. Ellen and Durham have a lot to...talk about."_

_"What could they possibly have of such importance that I'm required to leave?" _Louis replied on the same whispering tone. Juno only smiled while shaking her head.

_"Let's go. Say, are you hungry? It's getting late. I could use a tuna sandwich. Mind joining me?" _Juno asked, looking at him eagerly. Louis was taken aback by the sudden change of topic. He was too uncertain of what to say and was only able to nod numbly at her proposal. She dragged him by the arm. They both passed the distracted zebra and coyote, followed by most of the other members that were standing outside of the office with puzzled looks.

"Bye Shiira, bye Els! See you all tomorrow!" Juno said as she went by with a despondent Louis on her tail. Everyone could only stare as the prominent star student was dragged away by a chipper wolf girl.

"What just happened here?" Asked Kai, looking from the departing duo back to the other duo still in the office. "Is this place even normal anymore?"

"I don't know. Honestly, who cares at this point? Let's just do our tasks and get back to our usual activities." Shiira said tiredly. She waited until all the members had dispersed before heading into the office.

"Durham, glad to see you around again." The cheetah took notice of how unnerved Ellen seemed before their conversation was interrupted.

"Oh, hi Shiira. Yeah, my bad. Tough stuff after what happened. I'm doing better now, just had to work out some issues and changed my schedules." He replied, although without the usual confidence he normally displays. "Speaking of schedules. Is Jack still coming for practice? I haven't talked with him much either."

"Oh, yeah, he comes. At least he's a far improvement from the first time. He just need to work his anxiety a bit more."

"Heh, that would be difficult. Anyways, I kinda have to make up for my absence, what do you all think of we got out somewhere downtown this weekend?"

"We?" Asked Ellen dubiously. Durham shrugged.

"Me, Ellen, you and Jack. I was gonna ask Juno, but she clearly has plans with Louis." The coyote smiled suggestively. Both Shiira and Ellen scoffed at him.

"Farfetched to think Juno would want anything with Louis." Shiira said firmly. "Or that Louis would ever dare to cross such line. Not like y- huh, some students that I know of."

"That's fine. It's fun to spread gossip about Louis. Imagine the fires that would spread if the entire school came to know that Louis is dating Juno." Durham said, looking far too excited about the idea of seeing the school burn.

"You have issues, you know that?" Ellen said, worried for his state of mind. Durham only rolled his eyes.

"You ain't no fun. Besides, what harm could a silly gossip like that do?"

**A/N: Okay, this pause took far longer than necessary, but then I had been doing some pre writing to work around that I don't want to dwelve into the second season so quickly. It's gonna be tricky to avoid future events so I will try to do as much world building for the next, huh, twenty or thirty chapters. Sorry for the delay. There are some characthers that I have some... worry on how to portray them.**


	14. Chapter 14 - Odd Feelings

**A/N: So, before you follow to this delayed chapter, there are few things a have to address. **

**So, since Beastars Season 2 will only come next year, **_and I don't want to spoil myself with the manga_**, I kinda had to rework a lot of the plot and find a way to build things up without addressing show events too often. I will try to keep the tense atmosphere for sure, but I think I found something... intriguing that I could that to this story. **

**Now keep in mind that this story is NOT a crossover of any sort. I'm just adding a well know element to the mix as a way to build few characters and keep the story going without getting stuck on a Hiatus (Which nearly happened tbh, I was clueless on what to do), so please take the, huh, new stuff that some of you might notice with a grain of salt, lol.**

**On a second note, aside this story, I decided to go back on other two stories since I've been stale for some time due work and all this pandemic craziness. Hopefully I can get back on schedule soon. My apologies for the delay. I won't give this story up just yet. Cheers!**

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"So, when exactly are we seeing them?"

"Tomorrow."

"What?! Already?! Why you didn't warn me sooner?!"

"I'm doing it just now if you haven't notice."

"Oh, no, no, no! What do you think I should wear? I don't even know where we are going!"

"Jack, relax. You don't need anything extravagant, we are just going downtown to enjoy ourselves."

The Labrador huffed while he precariously picked on his clothing options. Durham could only roll his eyes as a response to the dog's desperation.

The coyote was expecting some sort of panic reaction from him, but not to this extent. He would imagine that Jack would be less worked up about being somewhere with Shiira, surprisingly it was not the case. The mere idea of going out with the girls was somewhat worrisome, the coyote could agree with that feeling. Yet, out of the three of them, Ellen was the one that worried Durham the most.

The zebra was very unpredictable even while inside the campus, there was no telling on how she would act on the outside. Durham wasn't sure how to keep her out of trouble if any problematic situation arises. Ellen could go from sweet and innocent to downright furious and aggressive in the blink of an eye. There was yet to happen a situation in which she would feel threatened, especially due her being an Herbivore. Durham hoped that moment would never come.

Wishful foolish thinking.

"How did you even manage to convince Shiira to come? I don't think she's one of going out anyways." Jack asked distractedly. The Labrador was struggling to decide which colors and shapes of clothing would fit better for tomorrow's special occasion.

"Wasn't that hard to be honest. She told me she wasn't really having any reasons to go out, no to mention that she has been dragged down by the excessive amount of things she had to do due Louis absence. Now? Heh, she seems eager to get away from this place."

"If you say so. Hey... did you notice anything weird with Legosi lately?"

Durham stared at Jack, an odd sense of Deja Vu as he thought carefully about an answer.

"Haven't you asked me that before? Not sure when, but I know you did. What would be your definition of weird exactly?"

"I did?! Oh, I guess... well, I'm just worried about him. He's been acting more off than usual ever since he came back with Aoba, you know? On that day that they went with Bill and Tao downtown." Jack explained hesitantly, the Labrador wasn't sure if he was getting too worked up about the way Legosi is currently behaving.

Durham nodded absentmindedly. The coyote wasn't sure if he wanted to ponder over whatever is bothering Legosi, that was up for Jack to figure it out, these two were best friends after all.

Despite what the majority of the other students think they saw, Durham was pretty sure that Legosi beating the hell out of Bill wasn't just an act. It seemed that Jack also took notice of that odd occurrence.

_'I know Jack is worried but there's not much I can do, besides, I want to focus on Ellen for now. I neglected her and it's obvious that I made her upset. Seeing her face that day made me feel really bad._'

"You sure it has nothing to do with them going to the black market?"

Jack grimaced at the mention of such place. It was no wonder why. Jack, like most dogs, is capable of controlling their carnivore urges while other kinds of canines struggle. It was a mystery for everyone till this day on why they have it easier than others. The Labrador hated the idea of meat consumption, and the mere mention about eating another person made him particularly sick.

"N-No, I'm sure it has nothing to do with that. Still, I may wait for him to come back. I need to ask him about few things that have been going on." He said while opening a bunker drawer. "Also I need to find a magazine that I borrowed. Say, you doing anything this afternoon?"

"Yeah, preparing for tomorrow. _Like you should_." The coyote replied with a frown. Jack smiled sheepishly in return.

"Oh, yeah! That, huh, event. I know. I will think of something. You think we give them a present or something?"

Durham stared quizzically back at him.

"What are you talking about?"

Jack glanced back at the coyote, visibly confused with Durham's obliviousness.

"Isn't this a double date?"

Durham snapped to attention almost instantly. He felt his muzzle loosening as he stared with incredulity towards his roommate.

_'Double date?! What's he talking about? We are just hanging out with the girls.' _

The coyote pondered carefully on how to take Jack's strange assumption. Sure, he and Ellen spent a fair amount of time together, but nothing went further than a well developed friendship. Durham liked the zebra a ton, but he wasn't sure that he wanted to take the next step just yet. He knew Ellen for only few weeks, they shared heartfelt conversations but nothing that brought the prospect of dating.

So why Jack was making such assumptions? Which also included Shiira in it?

Before Durham could come up with an answer the cellphone inside his pocket started vibrating, reminding the coyote that he had it set for silent mode before classes.

He picked it up distractedly, not bothering to check the caller's ID.

"Hello?"

_"Durham! Who is she?!"_

Durham nearly let the device fell from his hands, the loud shout scared him as he initially failed to recognize who was assaulting his eardrums.

"M-Mom?!"

_"Don't you mom me! Who's the girl you've been seeing so frequently?! Do you have any idea how long I awaited for this moment to happen?! You didn't bother to tell me about her?!"_

Jack stood nearby, hearing his mother's voice through the speaker as she shouted indiscriminately at her son. The Labrador looked understandably terrified.

Durham stood still, frozen in terror as he tried to process the situation. How had she manage to find out that he was seeing someone? Surely his father wouldn't have told her...

_"And before you ask, yes, I got that information from White Fluff. If he thought he could hide this from me, well, I just proved him wrong." _

White Fluff was a rather charming nickname his mother often used when mentioning Durham's father while using the phone. Although it was more for safety reasons than as an amorous joke. Being involved with a police officer came with some lifestyle changes.

Which also answered the question of how she came to know of such. Durham could only imagine how threatening his mother was towards the poor officer to dig the information out of him.

He swallowed dry. The idea of his mother finding out about Ellen so soon was not one he envisioned with great perspective. The female coyote was very unpredictable and having her son getting involved with an Herbivore could be quite... eventful.

_'She's either gonna freak out or start a lengthy speech about consequences.'_ Durham thought, dreading every possibility.

"Huh, so... I was going to tell you. It's just that I'm taking it slowly. We're just good friends for now."

_"You haven't asked her out yet?"_ His mother asked, sounding quite incredulous about his cautiousness. _"I don't see why. You're in a campus for the love of... if anything she's probably desperate to get plowed by the first that cares to take her out anywhere."_

"Mom! She ain't like that! What the hell?!" Durham retorted indignantly. He knew his mother could be quite blunt as him, but this was just demeaning. "Look, she ain't just some random person I decided to hook up for the sake of a good time! I... really care for her."

_"Oh... that kind of girl then." _His mother said hesitantly. _"Well... do you want to introduce me to her? I would care greatly to know about whoever my son fell in love with."_

"I don't know if I love her or-

"_Oh, sure, sure. I'm not your mother either, just a distant cousin."_ She replied with a mix of sarcasm and disbelief. _"Not fooling anyone my dear Straw."_

"M-Mom!" Durham flushed red at the terrible nickname she often used on him. It never failed to get a reaction and she knew it.

"Straw? Why Straw?" Jack asked, a rather cunning smile on his face that the coyote did not like one bit.

"Be quiet Jack." Durham said carelessly which resulted in his mother hearing the reply.

_"Jack? Is Jack there with you? Oh, it's been quite some time since I last saw him. How is he doing?" _

At this Durham couldn't help the avengeful smile on his face, he took great joy on seeing Jack go pale, at least his face was of complete horror. It's hard to tell if a furry creature like him is actually pale or not.

It had been only one occasion in which Jack visited his house, an event that took place five years ago. It was the only time Jack ever hang out with him aside school, and a day he would never forget.

Turns out Jack, while getting accustomed with Durham's house, wasn't very familiar with basic things like where was the guest bathroom. The Labrador made a poor decision of walking upstairs by his own, making his way to the partially opened door at the end of the hallway.

His bad time resulted on him entering the bathroom area, which happened to be occupied by his mother. The female coyote had just finished bathing and was leaving the box area. Jack was granted a whole body sight as she turned around to face him, shocked as she realized it wasn't Durham who went through the door.

It was a sheer miracle Jack didn't die on the spot. Although that particular experience traumatized him forever. Durham only came to know of what happened after consulting his mother, since Jack bolted from the house without further notice.

It was no wonder Durham's mother didn't hear from him for ages. She took the event rather well if compared with the Labrador, at least she was able to crack some jokes about it.

_"I'm not here."_ Muttered Jack desperately. Durham snorted.

"Yeah, he's around. Busy though. He sends his best regards."

He heard her chuckle at the other side of the line, most likely she didn't buy his excuse.

_"Can't you tell me anything about her? I promise I won't judge. Some details would be nice to know before we meet." _His mother requested gently enough. Durham knew she really wanted whatever info she could get to assess their relationship success.

"Mom..." He hesitated, unsure if he could put so much faith on her judgment. He _knew_ she was going to judge the girl, no matter what. "You have to promise me you won't try to persuade me away from her. I have enough to worry about, I really could use someone on my side on this, aside my roommates of course."

His plea was followed by a quiet pause. No doubt his mother was considering whatever possible candidates Durham would've chosen to be his life partner. He knew by a fact that none of these candidates were Herbivores.

_"Is she that much different that you need to be assured of my possible judgement?"_

"Well, she's exotic and... taller than me, but just a bit. Huh, athletic despite being on a club unrelated with sports. She's gotta an attitude to her that I really like. I mean, I could say a lot more but I won't risk giving what she is right away."

_"I see... well, let me know when you're ready to present her. I will make sure White Fluff gets a day off so we all can get acquainted."_

Durham could only chuckled while imagining the scene. They would be spooked once they find out who Ellen truly is.

"Sure thing mom. Say, you know anywhere they might be hiring for delivery? I kinda want to fill on a summer job. I don't think being out of any obligations for six weeks is going to do me any good."

Jack glanced at him, surprised that the coyote was actually looking for a job so early.

It seemed the Labrador wasn't the only one taken aback by Durham's decision.

"_A-Are you sure? I thought you would wait till you were finished with school. Du...Straw, you know I don't like the idea of you alone at the streets so late."_

Durham nodded despite his mother being unable to see it. He was perfectly aware of the danger, but he couldn't shy away from making any sort of income by being afraid of 'what if's'.

"Yeah, but... she's totally worth the risk. I wanna make things work. For both of us."

_"Gosh, you're making me feel older than I wish to think. To hear you're already thinking on settling with a mate... I can't wait to see her!"_

Durham winced at the sudden excitement on her voice.

"Okay, just keep your promise, okay? It means a lot."

_"Of course. Of course. I will. Sends my regards to your friends. Love you." _

Durham couldn't help the sheepish smile on his face. It wasn't very often she said such a word, considering her tough attitude most of the time, at least not after he reached his teenage years.

"Yeah, love you too. Bye."

Jack awaited until Durham closed the call before addressing the situation.

"Sooo... I take your mother might be okay with Ellen?" He guessed unsure. Durham laughed bitterly at that.

"I wish. I'm betting on her freaking out but keeping it to herself. I... just don't know. It's an unknown territory for me. Maybe she likes Ellen, which would be one hell of a lucky event. Anyways, let's not worry with that for now." Durham eyed the Labrador with an scrutinizing look. "Are you done deciding on your clothing? I need to go after Juno. Kinda promised I would talk with her today."

Jack's ears perked in surprise, which was saying a lot considering they were always droopy.

"Juno? Why?"

"Eh, some things I have to address, aside her still looking a bit out of place with the whole Legosi deal. I don't know, she kinda seems a bit lost lately. It would do her good to have something to focus other than getting into a relationship. It's just her first year anyways."

"Sure? I don't know. This whole deal with Juno is just strange. I don't get why Legosi is so evasive of her. Well, I better get ready then. See you later Durham." Jack said as he started opening some drawers, apparently looking for something.

The coyote nodded, despite not having the Labrador's attention, before exiting the dorm. He barely made his way out when he nearly collided with the tall form of Legosi standing by the wall nearby.

"Legosi? What you're..."

Durham paused as he realized that the wolf was currently walking on just one leg, seemingly bothered by something on one of his shoes.

"Huh? Oh, hi Durham. It's nothing. I just had some misfortune of stepping into a porcupine's leftovers." He quickly explained while limping inside the dormitory. "If you don't mind I have to take this off. I will see you later."

Durham could only chuckle as the giant wolf made his way inside hastily before closing the door. The coyote started making his way downstairs, mindful of avoiding the path that was currently filled with porcupine's hazard material. He picked up his cellphone, his finger scrolled through the list of contacts, an action that always made him wary of his fingertips. He had his fair share of scratching the screen due not cutting his claws short enough. He paused his search as he realized he needed to know where that store his mother talked about even was. Perhaps searching through the web would give him an idea.

Before he could even move towards the navigator his phone started vibrating. His ears perked in surprise, of all times this wasn't the one he expect Ellen to be calling him. He accepted the call without hesitation.

"Hey Stripes."

_"Hmmm, hey. Damn, I need to give you a nickname of some sort. It sucks to be the only one being stereotypically labelled by their appearance." _She complained jokingly. Durham rolled his eyes at her fake attempt at dramatics.

"You almost sound like Louis, but even more girly." He replied back with a grin splattered across his face.

_"You fucker! Don't you dare compare both of us!"_ She shouted indignantly followed by an audible laugh in the background. _"Urgh, shut up Els."_

"Oh, is Els there?" He asked right away.

_"Yeah, I am. Ellen forgot the call was set on speaker. We are at our dorm right now. Not much to do around with no more classes for today."_ Els explained. Durham could tell she sounded a bit lost without the usual class activities to keep her busy. He wasn't sure what Els did to keep herself busy in the weekends. Not to mention he worried for her well being, after what happened with Tem, it only made her a more likely target for whoever was the culprit.

"That is true. Say, Els. Why don't you come with us tomorrow? I'm sure we can hang out and have a good time, better than being stuck at the campus." He offered gently. There was a pause on the other side of the line, which made him curious about what these two might be thinking.

_"Well, I would..."_ Els started hesitantly. _"I just don't want to become a distraction." _

"What?" Durham asked distractedly, he had to avoid few students that were currently walking around the hallway of the ground level before making his way outside. The lack of classes for today had many students going around, not to mention most clubs were out of any agendas for the rest of the week. With the proximity of summer most activities were coming to an end.

_"Els has other things to care of. That's what she's trying to say."_ Ellen explained, although Durham was dubious of the veracity of her words. _"Do we have a place to meet tomorrow before going out?" _

The coyote frowned at how quick she changed the subject, but he let it pass as he debated with himself a good spot to meet up.

"Sure, I guess the fountain at the plaza near the Theater? It's usually easy to find and very accessible. We can find each other without much trouble."

_"Fine by me. See you tomorrow then. Don't be late." _

"Oh, wait! I almost forgot." Durham replied quickly.

_"What?"_

"Huh, I kinda have to go around downtown to find this store. I wanna apply there for a job. I heard they might be hiring."

_"Oh. Okay then. Hum, why you're looking for work this early? I thought you would want to graduate first?"_ Ellen asked dubiously.

Durham had mentioned about getting a job before, but she wasn't expecting for him to it just after his second year. Yet, she couldn't help but be happy that he was this ambitious about getting on his own feet so early. The coyote, unlike many other students, already had a set idea of what he wanted to do in his adult life.

"Let's just say that being out of the Sports club made my work choices very short." Durham said somewhat bitterly. He still wasn't taking his suspension with such ease despite the time he isolated himself from the world. Something that Ellen understood and he was immensely grateful for her being on his side, even after he neglected her during that period. "So I have to start somewhere. Something is way better than nothing."

_"Yeah, I know. Sure, we can go there, just let's find the place quick. Being on downtown is not something any Herbivore would like to experience. Place is the most dangerous of all for our kind. You know how high the rate of predation incidents is in that area."_

"Oh, I am aware." Which was a lie. He didn't really know it. Suddenly the plans for downtown were all down the drain. He would have to rethink a better place for the group to spend their time at.

_"I guess it's fine since we are in a group, so I shouldn't worry too much."_

"Sure thing about that. Like someone would be crazy enough to try pissing you off." Durham replied jokingly. _'And if anyone tries something on you I will just shoot them.'_ He added in his own mind.

_"Humpf. We will see about that. Until tomorrow then."_ Ellen replied, most likely rolling her eyes at his sarcastic dismissal.

"See ya."

Durham turned the screen off before shoving the cell back into his pocket. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do now that he knew that downtown wasn't the best option for a fun night.

"Hmm, maybe I could ask Juno. She looks like the type that likes to walk around and discover new things." Durham wondered aloud to himself. "Eh. Not like she's busy or anything."


	15. Chspter 15 - A Painful Memory

"Say, why are we here again?"

"It wouldn't be nice to give Ellen some flowers?"

"Maybe, but then again she might just eat them."

"..."

"It's a joke. Don't take it seriously Herbivore girl."

"Still, it's very meaningful for an Herbivore to be presented flowers."

"Yeah, if you say so Els. Still doesn't explain why I can't just buy some. I don't get why we had to come to the Gardening club for this."

Els just chuckled at the coyote's silliness. She guided him across the well kept rows of pot plants, her eyes going around as she searched for their keeper.

"I just happened to know about this place recently. Dom talked about it when he asked Legosi to gather some of the decorations for the festival. It seems that Legosi, for whatever reason, couldn't do that task and Dom asked me instead."

Durham raised an eyebrow. Legosi does have a particular obsession with insects, so he could easily picture the wolf in such a place for the sake of catching something exotic.

Even so, it was rather strange that Legosi failed at something so simple as picking a bunch of flowers.

"This place feels nice though." Durham commented as he took in the amazing view they have of the city around the campus. The garden was located on a elevated position, an open area on the rooftop of the campus biggest building.

Els nodded in agreement. Although her eyes searched for something else instead, or rather someone.

"Hmm, Dom said that I could find the member of the club around at this time. Yet, I don't really see anyone anywhere." She said uncertainly.

"_The_ member?" The coyote asked, perplexed at the implication. "Are you telling me there's only _one_ person taking care of all of this?"

"That's what I heard. I feel bad to think they're alone here most of the time." Els replied, walking across several dozens of pots with a variety of different types of plants. Some places had actual gardens with vegetables and fruits growing on them. The healthy appearance of the organics proved their guardian to be an efficient individual.

"I mean, I guess it sucks to take care of all of this on your own, but considering nothing seems wrong it wouldn't be too far off to assume they like doing this stuff." Durham reasoned, his limited knowledge of botany was enough for him to understand there weren't any plants with unhealthy condition. "Heh, I don't think I would care to remember watering even a single pot."

"With that dry humor of yours it is not surprising."

Durham stopped, the answer on the tip of his tongue as he turned around to address the offender. But the words died on his throat as he found the origin of the feminine voice; a dwarf rabbit.

"Oh, hi! You must be the gardener! My name is Els, the sarcastic one is Durham." Els said cheerfully enough. The rabbit stared passively at both of them before replying.

"Name's Haru. What are you both doing here? I don't usually have visits this early." She asked suspiciously.

Durham was hardly impressed that the rabbit was staring at him. It was typical behavior from every Herbivore to keep an eye on Carnivores whenever they were present. He remembered flipping off some Herbivores at each moment they stared at him like that. The reactions were always priceless.

Yet, if someone reacted rather strangely in this occasion it was Els.

Her face wrinkled in a odd manner, as if she reminded of something particularly unsettling. Her eyes widened as she looked more attentively towards the dwarf rabbit.

"Oh, huh, we came to ask for the usual sets for the Summer Festival. Dom asked me to come to make sure that was being looked after." Els explained hesitantly. Durham watched the exchange with intrigue.

Haru nodded. Seemingly already aware of what Els was talking about. Her attention shifted back to the coyote.

"Yes, but why is he here? I don't think you would need two for such task." She questioned while raising an eyebrow. Durham didn't really like her patronizing tone very much.

"Actually I told Durham he could find flowers for his girlfriend in this place." Els explained with a giggle.

"She ain't my girlfriend Els." Durham corrected coolly.

"Sure. Cause you couldn't bring yourself to ask her already. Honestly I think you should whenever you get the chance. She won't feel like waiting forever for you to decide."

Durham made no comment on that. He understood why Els thought he should stop being so hesitant, but asking such to Ellen would set the both of them on a very difficult path. He was interested on taking a next step, but not sure on how soon that should happen.

Nevertheless he found intriguing that Els would say that Ellen would even be waiting for a decision on the matter. He wasn't even aware Ellen could be thinking of bringing their relationship to a next level, they both weren't exactly similar on many things.

Yet, he was inexplicably draught to her presence, no matter how much he denied to himself to be that interested on the zebra. His mother, her bold sexual comments aside, already saw things as they were and there wasn't much for him to work against that idea.

Perhaps Durham was unwilling to admit that the prospect of dating scared him a bit.

Ellen was the only girl he ever managed to talk with a rather high amount of frequency. Any girls he previously met were either too noisy or just plain silly. Shiira and Juno were exceptions but he had limited time shared with those two.

The coyote was almost assured that he would go through his years at the campus without really meeting anyone even remotely interesting. That was before he got to known those who make part of the Drama club.

Durham felt he could blame Legosi for that. The wolf barely talked about any of his club activities or its members. Not even Jack knew much of the club aside a few familiar faces he occasionally saw during classes or club events.

The coyote smiled at the memory of seeing Jack getting worked up about a girl. It was rather endearing but, considering that the girl was a rather bossy and tempered one (although not nearly as much as Ellen), he worried that the Labrador could be too sensitive for such contrasting personality.

Shiira, Ellen, Bill, Els, Kai, Dom, Mina, Tao, Legosi, Louis, Juno and some others that were part of something as simple as a club project, but gave it a different meaning on everything with each of their views and opinions about the world around them. There was no such thing as 'herd mentality ' in that place. At least not in the same amount Durham often experienced when on anywhere else but in that particular club.

He lately found himself wondering if he should try joining or not.

"So, any idea what you might be looking for? I do have a few tulips and roses laying around. Unless you wanna try for a specific colour." Haru asked, seemingly curious by the coyote's hesitancy. "I wasn't aware that Carnivores would really like flowers anyways."

"Eh, she's actually a zebra." Durham replied distractedly. Only after a few seconds he realized the words that came out of his mouth.

The female rabbit stared at him with an unamused expression. Her hands on her hips as she sighed.

"Look, I don't have time for jokes. What exactly do you want? I do have a lot to do up here. I would really appreciate if you can just skip the conversation and go to the point."

Durham eyed the bunny warily. He wasn't sure how to approach her passive aggressive skepticism. He decided for the 'all in' tactic.

"Well, I was hoping you could just help me to find some nice flowers for my, as Els so kindly mentioned, dear and beloved zebra. Which also happens to be taller than me and loves to use me as a punch bag."

Durham paused. A smirk on his face playing out as he watched the bunny gap at him for a brief moment. She didn't say anything, but the way she crossed her arms and frowned at him wasn't really the reaction he expected.

"Well, if that's what you're getting yourself into, might just look for something that won't cause any allergies. I know very few sets you can look after that won't cause any issues." She said with a tone of skepticism. "Not that flowers would be your biggest concern."

Durham snorted. How predictable that she would make some sort of insinuation in regards to a Carnivore dating and Herbivore.

"True, the major concern is, as I stated previously, bigger than me." The coyote replied, his words carrying an undertone that made Haru annoyed.

"I will show you to it then."

Durham nodded, he spared a quick glance at Els, his eyes caught the troubled look on her face. He stared at her briefly, curious on what had the fluffy female worked up. Els, noticing the attention she was being given, only shook her head.

"We can talk later."

'_Interesting_.' Durham shrugged at her in response. _'Definitely curious to know what's the stuff I'm missing here.'_

The coyote waited for Els to move after Haru before trailing near her. His eyes shifted around, observing the vibrant environment with mild interest. He would be lying if he said that none of flora caught his attention somewhat. Despite not being into plants, he couldn't deny the appeal some of them had.

_'This is the kind of stuff Ellen wouldn't mind having at her house. Well, assuming she finds some place that can accommodate plants anyway.'_

"Before we get to pick any bouquets..." Haru started, her voice drove the coyote away from his thoughts. "What colors did you have in mind? Any that she likes?"

Durham halted his response. He never actually asked Ellen about things like favorite color, favorite food or several other minor interests.

"Huh, blue..." He replied slowly. A wild choice but he could justify that easily. It's not like Ellen would really care for the color anyways.

At least he hoped so.

"Huh, then will see an arrangement for you." She replied with some smugness. Durham sighed, he was aware that the rabbit figured out how clueless he is in regards to details about his love interest.

_'Urgh, I hope this won't take too long.'_

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Durham opened the door slowly, his eyes scanned the area for any sign of his roommates. Thankfully no one was around despite being nearly dusk. He quickly made his way inside and closed the door.

The journey back had been quite informative. After buying the flowers from a rather skeptical gardener rabbit, one that Durham honestly prefered to not get involved with, he became aware of the gossip regarding the very same gardener.

Els, according to her several amount of different sources, heard of that particular rabbit having affairs with several different males in the Campus. Durham was rather skeptical of such gossip, but the multitude of boasting males in regards to their physical experiences with that rabbit, something that was talked rather carelessly about to their friends, was enlarging such a huge group of witnesses that the coyote had to accept it as undeniable proof.

He said rather firmly to Els that he refused to comment on that. It wasn't his business nor his place to judge the rabbit or the ones that slept with her. Yet, the idea of a student doing such thing alarmed him. Sure, it shouldn't matter if people got involved with more than just one other soul, but the amount mentioned that the rabbit went through was just beyond abnormal.

Durham would rather never need to talk or think about it again.

He wasted no time and kicked off his shoes to a corner, feeling relief at getting rid of the bothersome material that was part of Cherryton's standard uniform. He absolutely loathed those tight shoes.

He walked towards his bed with caution. His arms slowly rotated to accommodate the arrangement of flowers in front of him. He scrunched his muzzle as some petals caressed the edge of his nose.

"Durham?"

The coyote felt his heartbeat stop for a narrow second. His whole body turning to ice as he just became aware of the other presence in the room.

"L-Legosi?Wha...when did you get here?" The coyote asked, not daring to move an inch. He couldn't understand how he did not take note of the wolf's presence when he entered the dorm.

The sound of heavy feet hitting the wooden floor alerted him for the wolf's approach. Durham couldn't help but dread the likely amount of awkward questions that would be thrown his way.

Legosi stared at the coyote's back in confusion, unsure of why Durham sounded so uncomfortable.

"Huh, I came by few minutes ago. I had forgotten one of my... are those... flowers?"

Durham sighed in defeat. There was no point trying to talk his way out of this situation. Legosi probably smelled the scent of the bouquet way before seeing it.

"Yeah, yeah. You got me. I bought this for Ellen. We are going out tomorrow. Kinda wanted to make a surprise." The coyote admitted begrudgingly while turning around to face the taller canine. "Though this wasn't really my idea, Els talked me into it."

"Els?" Legosi contemplated the event for a quiet moment, his curiosity peaked all of sudden. "Say, how are you and Ellen doing? I don't know much about your relationship and honestly I should known more, at least something."

Durham was surprised that Legosi asked such thing. The wolf rarely asked about other students or any animals overall.

"Why the sudden interest? It's not like you even talk much about relationships with anyone, or even Jack for that matter." Durham questioned, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. Legosi winced at the words being thrown his way.

"Perhaps not. It's just..."

A conflicted expression on the wolf's face caught Durham's attention.

"Why don't we sit down and talk?" Durham suggested, indicating the wolf's bed with a nod of his head. "I think we both have things to clarify. That if... you want to. I know I'm not Jack, but I would like to think we are friends that are perfectly capable of talking and helping each other out."

"We are." Legosi replied immediately, but the blank expression coming from Durham made the wolf reconsider. "I guess... we _should_ talk more often."

"Precisely." The coyote replied with a grin on his muzzle. "Since we are being straightforward for once, I want to ask you something, in return I will answer one question of yours. No lies here, only the truth."

Legosi clasped his hands, his eyes shifting downwards as he thought about the proposal. If being honest meant a step forward in their friendship, even if the wolf felt extremely uncomfortable by doing so, then he saw no other way of doing it.

"Just... promise to never tell no one?" Legosi asked, although he sounded more like begging. Durham shifted his expression to a more serious one.

"I won't betray your trust Legosi. No matter what happens, what we share concerns no one else. Unless you wish, whatever it may be, to be shared, otherwise I ain't telling a damn thing to anyone."

"Not even Ellen?"

Durham chuckled. This wolf was way more well aware than he let himself known.

"I promised a lot to Ellen, but spilling other's secrets wasn't it. Only my own."

Legosi nodded slowly, letting out a breath of easiness. Durham sounded very solid about his statements, his resolve gave the wolf enough courage to speak his mind for once.

"I... think I'm in love..."

"That's good, which also explains why you're expressing yourself more often. Don't give me that look." Durham chuckled as the wolf stared quizzically at him. "It was very noticeable for any that spent months stuck in a dorm with your sorry tail. Spill it out, what's so amazing about her that caught your attention?"

Legosi hesitated. He frowned while struggling to find words to describe his feelings in regards to the female that plagued his mind.

"I... it's hard to say why, but... her scent..."

"Huh, I'm afraid I have no idea how to understand scents." Durham replied somewhat sheepishly. Legosi regarded him with a wary look.

"Durham, you're a coyote. You should have quite the nose. Not as good as a wolf, but still."

"Gee, thanks, I feel very proud of myself." Durham replied with irony. He sighed before scratching his furry chin, the call for a bath urging his senses. "The thing is, I kinda had a very unusual birth. Therefore I didn't developed a reliable sense of smell. To put it simple, I cannot smell anything."

"Oh."

Legosi glanced around awkwardly, unsure of how to take in such situation. It wasn't very often he meet someone with some sort of disability, at least not since...

"That's why you take two showers a day. Cause you can't tell if you're smelling good or not." Legosi stated hesitantly.

"Yep, that's about right. Well, your turn. I asked my question."

"Huh, my answer was sort of... short." Legosi countered weakly. Durham dismissed it with a wave of his hand.

"Bah, a question is a question. Come on, I'm kinda looking forward to see what you want to know." The coyote insisted enthusiastically enough.

"Right, hum... are you really in love with Ellen?"

Durham smirked. It was a very predictable question but he's been preparing for it.

"Yeah, I am. We actually will go out on a date tomorrow wit- huh, witness the buzz on the downtown and whatnot." Durham quickly corrected himself. He felt his face heating up as Legosi regarded him very quietly. The coyote mentally cursed himself for nearly giving Jack away. "Heh, I kinda might get a summer job while I'm at it."

This surprised the wolf quite throughly.

"You're already looking for a job? But you're still a second year."

"Well, I won't be here forever and I'm very doubtful I would take the fourth year, like many others rarely do." Durham regarded the wolf with some worry. "Have you thought on what do you want to work with after you finish school?"

"No, not really. I had a few things in mind, but I'm not sure yet." Legosi admitted somewhat regretfully. Durham nodded.

"Well, you should try starting somewhere, even if it's something totally different from what you would be aiming for. A bit of income this early helps tremendously. Especially if you are going out with a girl. A male with a job speaks volumes for any female that you might be wanting to impress. It doesn't hurt to try."

Legosi pondered the suggestion in his mind. Durham was always a down to earth type of person, he rarely left himself to be bothered by circumstances out of his control, especially when it was about social prejudice. If the coyote was thinking that far ahead about his own life then, perhaps, it wouldn't be a really wasted effort to try to do something similar. Not to mention that the concept, that more often than not was truthful, of females being more attracted to partners with some sort of income worried him greatly.

"I will think about it. Say, are you doing fine with her? I mean, I'm not sure how much it can affect you once you're dating outside species and, well, not even a Carnivore. Aren't you worried?"

Legosi's concern were genuine and Durham was glad to be able to ease them somewhat, he briefly wondered if all his other friends were in a similar state.

"Aye, I'm always worried, but mostly for her than me. Being an Herbivore will by default put her on imminent danger. Yet, I got to know her better, she is the least likely to be attacked and not fight back ferociously. That girl knows how to put someone down if she wants to. Remember the other day she kicked us really hard?"

Legosi grimaced at the memory. Ellen's kick left him with difficulty to breathe without feeling any sort of pain for two days straight. As if the scarred scratches on his back caused by Bill hadn't been painful enough during that time.

"Yeah, I can relate with your expression right now. She can be truly savage when she wants to. It's kinda scary, yet endearing somewhat. She is mighty impressive for a female Herbivore, that's why I got interested on her. We had a bit of a rough start but got along as time went by. I just... I can't see myself with any other person that not Ellen. She's unlike any other girl I met. I think exotic would be the simplest way to describe her. That and I have a thingkfor tall girls."

"Well, you ain't the tallest person around." Legosi replied without thinking. Durham snorted.

"Such words coming from the giant wolf himself. I wonder how you will do if you ever find someone taller than you. Well, there's Mina, but being a long neck isn't exactly an advantage."

"Riz is a bit taller than me, Bill I'm not so sure."

"Yeah, Bill is kinda around your height. Dunno about Riz, I barely get to see that dude around. What's up about him anyway? I don't think I ever heard his voice. He's like you, but ten times quieter." Durham inquired with a curious expression on his face. Legosi shrugged.

"He never was one of talking. Whenever needed he would do his tasks and everyone never had anything to complain about it. He's mostly around minding his own. Bill and Tao get to talk with him once in a while."

"Speaking of him, how's Tao? I don't think he took Shiira's break up very well."

Legosi sighed, looking somewhat frustrated by the mention of that particular event.

"Tao should've know better than to go with Bill. I wish he hadn't. He's really nice and I don't think he would go after the wrong things on his own. It was really bad that Shiira found out though. I wouldn't say he was entirely to blame since we had no intention of ending up at that market. Tao is... being very quiet. At least that's how it felt the very few times I saw him, although I did notice he started to look after Juno more often."

"Oh, wow. He's probably already thinking of moving on." Durham joked, but Legosi remained thoughtful.

"No, I don't think it's because of that. It's just that Juno... well..."

"Oh, great. Here we go again with your Juno issues."

Legosi regarded the coyote with something akin to indignation.

"_My Juno issues_?" The wolf inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Legosi, let me ask you something, even because it's my turn to ask anyways. Why you never gave Juno a chance? What's about Juno that makes you be so evasive of her? Juno, _I hope Ellen doesn't hear this_, is quite an amazing girl. Sure, she may jump head first into things without proper thinking, but she is very pretty and mindful of other people. She's been trying hard at the club, everyone noticed that and grew to respect and admire her, not only due her efforts, but her kind gestures and overly positive attitude. People like her mostly for who she is, even a good deal of Herbivores. I may say is damn impressive how well liked she is around the campus, even despite being a first year. Juno is not the kind to sit around and let the world of stereotypes and prejudice overtake her confidence. You see Legosi, she's not just a pretty face, she has a great personality behind her. Why wouldn't you give her a chance?"

The wolf remained silent, his eyes staring forward, locked on a distant gaze that went beyond their plan of existence. Durhsm took notice of the barely noticeable trembling of the wolf's hands, the way his tail snapped from time to time, his muzzle scrunching lightly as if he was trying to contain something deep within him.

"Legosi..."

"It's just..." The wolf closed his eyes. A low whimper escaping from him, something that alarmed the coyote tremendously.

"...she...she looks just... like my mother."


	16. Chapter 16 - Turn Of Events

"You know, when they said this was the Drama Club I didn't think it would be so in the literal sense. Now, how about you relax Louis, or do I really have to shoot you?"

"..."

"Come on deer boy. No one needs to die today. Bill is an ass, but I don't think he deserves to have his head blow off because of it."

"H-Hey! I already said it was an accident!"

"For fuck sake! Put the fucking gun down Louis! What are you thinking?!"

"He won't listen for some time Shiira, everyone needs to calm down and wait."

"Durham, why in the hell _you_ also have a gun?! Where's _my_ gun? I wouldn't mind having one to be honest, considering a fucking murderer is on the loose and I rather have the chance to put a hole through the next asshole that tries to jump at me."

Durham would've rolled his eyes at Ellen's bold complain if the situation wasn't so serious. His finger was still slightly pulling at the trigger, his aim steady as he kept it centered at one of Louis legs.

The deer kept still, his eyes solely focused on Bill, his left arm fully extended as it was holding the gun, the other hand was bleeding from the injury caused by the tiger.

Louis was still lost in his brief state of panic. The gun he always kept hidden in his hip currently just inches away from Bill's muzzle. The tiger, for the first time Durham could remember, looked absolutely terrified. Not that he could be blamed for it, not when he was this close to certain death.

Durham could only guess that the blood dripping from the injury on one of the deer's hands was the reason to ignite this whole mess.

His eyes briefly scanned the vast room. The coyote saw six members currently present, most likely due them arriving early. Ellen, Shiira, Els, Bill, Tao and Kai were the only ones present aside Louis and Durham himself. Thankfully this terrible event will be easy to keep under secrecy if things end smoothly. Durham wanted no snitches.

The deer seemed to slowly come to his senses as things went quiet around him, his eyes regained a bit more of focus as they moved around with more frequency, scanning the area around him with caution. His arm slowly descended, the gun no longer threatening the massive feline.

Durham let out a small breath of relief, lowering his gun away from the deer. A relief that was felt by Bill, who was more than thankful for not getting shot at.

The others shared looks of concern and uneasiness, unsure of what to think or say in the current situation. Yet, they all were clearly less tense once guns were no longer being pointed at anyone.

Louis calmly holstered the gun back into the hiding spot at his back. A place that concealed the gun remarkably well. Durham did the same, although using a hidden holster on one of his legs.

The deer carefully inspected the wound on his hand, the blood dripping at a constant rate, he was unfazed by the sight.

"Els... could you pick up the first aid kit? I might need to patch this already." Louis requested somewhat quietly.

Els jumped a bit at having her name uttered all of sudden. She stared hesitantly at Louis before making her way to the office.

Durham walked away from the deer, his eyes glancing back with caution as he approached Ellen. The zebra was standing near the mirror wall alongside Shiira. He noticed that both females were whispering to each other at a frantic rate. His ears managed to pick some of that conversation before they stopped abruptly as he got closer.

_"...on't think we should even partake into the weekend. This is insane."_

_"I know, I know, but Durham can provide us some safety, he has one too after all. I rather be with him than stuck here with Louis."_

_"Only you would think it's fine to go on with it. I rather avoid trouble if I can Ellen. There's a reason I ended up things with Tao."_

_"You have to be joking. Bill almost got shot at because he scratched Louis by accident. He's a fucking time bomb about to go off and I don't want to be near him when it happens."_

_"Well, you have a point there..."_

_"We can talk later, Durham is coming our way."_

"So, what did I miss?" The coyote asked with a smirk on his face, pretending that nothing really important happened. "I heard you folks were going to do some rehearsing, though I expected the drama stuff to be reserved to the actual show, not the backstage aswell."

"Of course you would try to play this out like it's nothing." Shiira said while rolling her eyes. "Yes, we had plans, but now that really won't matter. After Louis decided to put a show of his own I don't think anyone will feel up to do anything at all."

Durham shrugged, his eyes shifting towards Ellen. The Zebra returned his attention with a smile and a glance of uncertainty.

"I mean, we were supposed to be doing our last rehearsals for the Summer Festival. I just don't think that anyone will be able to concentrate after what happened."

"I do agree with that Stripes. Do you thin-

"Hi everyone!" Came the incredibly cheerful and resonating greeting from a very familiar wolf.

All present shifted their attention towards Juno standing at the entrance, she looked extremely content for whatever reason. Most members walked towards the wolf to greet her, every one of them looking pleased to see the canine.

"Hey Juno! How are you? Any plans for today?" Asked Els with a cheerful attitude that quickly replaced the one of anxiety she had seconds earlier. One would think she was desperate to forget what just happened.

Even Bill, despite having just faced certain death, seemed to be able to crack a smile at seeing the female wolf among them. Although it was very likely he was thankful for the shift of attention.

All the other members came to gather around the wolf, most greeting her with sympathetic smiles while others just wanted a reason to distract themselves from the early incident.

Louis stood and watched, his face incapable of masking the absolute surprise at seeing how Juno was being so well received by the other members. The way they swarmed around her spoke volumes of her rising popularity.

Durham could only frown as Ellen left his side to go talk with Juno along everyone else except Louis and Shiira. He didn't mind Ellen choosing to talk with the wolf, but it was the sight of another familiar wolf that had him confused.

Legosi, for whatever reason, showed up alongside Juno. Something that went unnoticed by most since Juno's sudden appearance seemed to eclipse everything around her. Yet, the way Legosi timidly evaded everyone else while walking near the walls, stopping to glare at Louis for a moment, made the coyote extremely wary of his behavior.

_'What's up with him? I don't usually see him expressing much but, that look... it's quite worrisome.'_

The coyote was about to head for the taller canine, but the sudden vibrating sensation of the phone in his pocket made him pause. Durham sighed and picked the device without bothering to check the call ID. He internally hoped that it wasn't his mother again.

"Yes, who is this?"

_"Humm, is this Durham Ca-"_

"Yes, it's me!" The coyote cut off quickly, alarmed by the mention of his surname. "And you would be?"

_"Oh, name's Bonin Fujiwara. I work at the new food delivery store. Well, I actually manage it since it's kind of a family thing and my brothers are managers on other two in different towns, but anyways. I received a... well, 'request' would be putting it very kindly. A very insistent indication from a rather angry female coyote about your very person. So, I'm not really sure what your talents are, but I'm not very fond of the idea of being served as an appetizer for one of my own deliveries." _

Durham felt the air inside his lungs freeze for a moment. Did his mother actually threatened someone to hire him?! He let out a breath of frustration once his thoughts were properly gathered.

"Urgh, I'm sorry about that Mr. Fujiwara, my mother can be overzealous at times when is something related about me. I'm pretty sure she won't chop you into pieces if you refuse her... errr, request."

A laugh followed after his reply, whatever Fujiwara thought about the situation didn't seem to have upset him in the slightest.

_"Yeah, I do understand mothers. Mine wasn't that carefree either, at least not as much with me than my brothers. Still, I do have some questions for you before we set an interview. That if you have time and, please, call me Bonin. I ain't that old to be referred as Mister, not to mention it sounds weird. Heh, not even my old man likes being addressed like that."_

"Sure thing for both. What kind of questions you have?" Durham asked, his eyes contemplating the scene before him.

Some other members had just arrived. Louis, with an incredibly amount of audacity, was throwing one of his speeches about the importance of the Festival's performance and expecting the maximum amount of dedication from all of them.

Needless to say Ellen flipped the deer while Bill grunted something like 'Or what? You're gonna shoot us?'. The others mostly just stared with blank expressions or frowned in annoyance at his attitude.

Juno was mostly confused to why so many were being so negative towards Louis, she was even more surprised to see Legosi glaring at the deer. She seemed to ask him what was wrong but Legosi just waved her off.

_'Never a dull moment in the Drama club. Damn, ain't this place interesting_?_'_ Durham thought with an inexplicable amount of pride.

_"So, my first question would be... do you happen to have a driver's license?"_

Durham felt his confidence drop a little. He wasn't expecting for this job to require him to be able to drive. Sure, he knew how to drive, his foster father taught him well enough, but a license was an entirely different matter.

"No, I'm afraid not. I was just about to set for exams during the summer break actually."

_"Hmm, but do you know how to drive though?"_

"... I hope whatever we talk about stays in between us."

A chuckle followed Durham's subtle request. It seems that Bonin wasn't worried about the coyote's transgressions.

_"Sure. Just between us. How many years you have behind the wheel?" _

"Huh, about four years. Though I haven't been on it much due school and all of that. I... kinda hoped I could become a race driver someday."

A silence followed the canine's words. Durham wasn't sure what to make of the absence of sound in the following seconds of utter silence.

_"Yeah... you will do. Can you show up today?"_

Durham felt apprehension overtake him. The location of the food service was on a rather dangerous part of town, he did warn the group where they were going, but he still has his doubts. He just hoped Shiira wouldn't be too upset with him.

"Huh, I can try. I will be with a couple friends and my g...errr, another friend of mine. We had set to go out today."

It was obvious that Bonin wasn't fooled by Durham's little slip of tongue.

_"Oh, so you have a girl. Say, I hope she doesn't end up being as suggestive as your mother is."_

Durham winced at being remembered of his mother's aggressive behavior. He was really tempted to call her on that matter later on. Also, he wasn't really sure about letting Bonin think that the coyote and Ellen were even a thing. Yet.

"She... isn't really peaceful per say, but she ain't a coyote either so there's nothing to worry about."

_"Oh? Dating outside of species, huh? Good for you. Great age to try new things. We have a deal then?"_

"Sure!I will be there by dusk. Thank you Mr... err, Bonin." Durham corrected himself sheepishly.

_"Heh, see you later then Durham, take care." _

Durham closed the call while looking elsewhere distractedly, he was feeling elated at the great opportunity he's been granted. Getting a job and being able to drive? He couldn't have hoped for a better outcome, he just wondered how he was going to drive around without a license. Perhaps Bonin has something to work that problem around? He wouldn't know for sure until he visited the establishment.

"Durham? Hey, Durham!"

The coyote blinked, confused for a moment as he became self aware of his surroundings. It surprised him to see that it was Tao the one who called for him.

"Huh, yeah? Sorry, I was kinda thinking something."

Tao chuckled as he came nearby the coyote, his expression somewhat forlorn despite the attempt at being cheerful.

"Must've been a lot then. Say... I heard you're going out to downtown today?"

Durham bristled at that question.

"Great, who's been running their tongue around? As if it really matters to anyone else."

Tao hesitated, unsure if he should say anything else considering how upset Durham got about him asking.

"Well, it was kinda running around, especially with the thing that you and Ellen have going on." The feline explained nervously. "It got everyone curious and worried, especially the Herbivores."

"Let me guess," Started Durham after a heavy sigh. "They are pulling on their own tails about a Herbivore and Carnivore going out together? Pfff, I just don't really care about their stupid worries. Neither does Ellen. She can handle her own better than any of these spineless mouthfuls. Yet, I get this strange feeling that you're not here to ask about me or Ellen." Durham frowned at the panther who visibly gulped once he realized his true reasons have been easily uncovered. "Tao... do you really think worrying about Shiira is a good idea? I get that you still care, but... chasing after her it's only going to make things worse."

Tao didn't reply, content on just looking away from the canine, his expression of utter hopelessness made Durham feel bad for him. The coyote wondered at times how would be the case if Ellen was the one who dumped him. The mere thought of it made him shiver.

"Hey, cheer up. I must imagine it ain't easy, but... maybe it was not meant to be. All you can do is learn from what went wrong and make it better next time." The coyote advised sympathetically. Tao nodded thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I guess." He replied hesitantly. "Say, are you and Ellen a thing? Or everyone is just talking way more than they should? Wouldn't be the first time people exaggerate things." Tao asked, his expression of genuine curiosity. Durham scratched his chin distractedly, his mind making up the choice of whether he should say anything at all.

"Maybe? Would it be a bad thing? Ellen is unlike any other girl I've meet."

"Well, she is tough, I can't argue with that." Tao conceded with a shrugh. "Way more abrasive than Shiira and hella strong. Equine nature I suppose. Yet, the other Carnivores might not understand it that way. There's always someone to judge the situation, I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into."

"Yeah... me too."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"YOU WHAT?!"

"Don't yell! I don't need the entire school to hear it."

"Legosi... you have to be joking. After all the avoidance and the things you told me..."

"I... Juno and I talked. More than I ever talked to anyone that wasn't Jack. It's... she told me about her, and... I kinda understand where she's coming from. I guess we have similar views on some things, is just we go different about how we deal with them."

"Yeah, sure. That happens with tons of people, but we all saw how you were running your tail off like a scared pup every time Juno's shadow showed up."

"Huh, straight to the point as usual Ellen."

"I want something, I go at it. I don't lay around wasting time."

"Now that's not entirely true..."

"Quiet Straw, or you will have less teeth to munch on your dinner this night."

"... Straw?"

Durham merely grunted in response to Legosi's confusion. The coyote was still trying to grasp the completely one-eighty the wolf did in regards to his stance towards Juno.

Sure, he couldn't blame the wolf for trying to make amends and all, but to ask Juno to go out?! That was dangerously close from insinuating a date of sorts. The only reason Legosi came up with this was because of Jack's mention of his walk downtown with Shiira. Durham had a nagging suspicion Legosi was using Juno as an excuse to keep an eye on Jack.

It was endearing yet somewhat insulting that the wolf didn't consider that the coyote could keep an eye on the group.

"Fine, whatever you say Legosi. But if Juno starts sucking your face don't go crying afterwards."

Legosi's eyes widened at the implication. He opened his mouth to retort but no words came out, mostly because arguing with Ellen wasn't exactly a good idea.

Durham was perfectly content with smiling towards the anxious wolf, his admiration for the zebra only growing stronger.

"Speaking of unexpected stuff... Legosi, what was up with you glaring at Louis this morning? I known you well enough to know that you don't usually do that kind of stuff without a really good reason." Durham asked while raising an eyebrow towards the wolf.

"Oh, that... huh, it's... complicated." Legosi replied, his attention shifting elsewhere. Ellen huffed dramatically in response.

"Whatever it is you shouldn't beat yourself up. Louis being a real ass lately and I rather stay away from him. I'm pretty sure he ain't staying here for a fourth year if all the Beastar thing goes his way. I just hope we can get someone to lead the club that won't be such a stuck up like he is."

Legosi stared, amazed at how upset Ellen was in regards to the deer. Durham, not wanting to miss the chance, decided to add to the conversation with a very unfortunate comment.

"You're just being salty cause Louis couldn't care less about your pretty face when you were being all smitten towards him."

0o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0o0

"Hey Jack, you're ready to go downtown?"

"Sure thing Dur-... what happened with your eye?!"

The coyote shrugged as he made his made to his bunker, opening a small wardrobe in search of better clothes for the wondrous occasion they would be living through in moments. Jack was glancing at him worriedly from the side, his mind racing to understand what the coyote got himself into to earn such a nasty injury.

"Errrr... it's going to be swollen for a few hours, but nothing to worry about." Durham said in an attempt to lighten up the mood. Jack snorted in disbelief.

"Are you sure? Ellen might get uneasy by seeing you like this."

"Oh... yeah, I'm pretty sure she won't mind. Trust me on that. Now let's get going, we have a long night ahead of us."

"Woah, did I heard this right?! You two have a date!?" Collot showed up all of sudden, his voice booming across the dorm like thunder. Unavoidably it caught the attention from the other male in the dorm.

"Jack and Durham got dates? No way." Miguno said, looking deeply impressed. "Damn, Collot you're lagging behind really bad."

The sheppard huffed, both annoyed and humored at the same time.

"Yeah, perhaps. Ladies haven't yet met my full charm! It's not like I've been trying to hard anyways. Now, these two? Ha! They are really trying to live life to the fullest, good on them!"

"You call it date, I call it 'getting away from you for once'." Durham replied cheekily. Collot laughed it off, unfazed by his comment.

"Sure, with that sharp tongue I bet you're bound to make any girl itchy, in many ways." He said with a snicker. "I can tell she already left her mark on you, considering how purple your face is looking right now."

"What can I say, I always like to voice my thoughts. She can't blame me for being honest."

"Wait! So that... Ellen punched you?!" Jack asked, realizing the implication being throw off in between the two. "Why?"

"Why, you ask?" Miguno said, his voice carrying an undertone of humor. "Because Durham always says things he shouldn't. Blunt, bold, and stupid at times."

"Sounds about right." Durham said unashamed. Miguno shook his head while Collot just patted the coyote on the back.

"Ha! Never changed Durham, at least someone goes to the point here! Legosi is always keeping to himself and Jack shakes like a leaf in a tornado every time we go on about girls."

"Not true, I just feel some of the topics you guys go on about females to be a bit... errr, 'extravagant'." Jack argued back defensively.

"What? About butt size and tits?" Durham replied with a chuckle. Jack groaned as he walked away towards the bathroom. "Gez, I guess I won't mention all the porn mags then."

"Say, you two are leaving for your dates right now?" Miguno asked, frowning as a problem came up his mind. "Might not be late on the way back though. They are being very tight about our time spent outside the school grounds, especially at night. Whoever killed Tem might be still out there somewhere."

"Yes, I do understand that. Yet, we will be at the town, I will have way more to worry about than a murdered on the loose inside the school." Durham responded hastily. "Besides, I don't have to worry anyways. Legosi will be going with us, he got a girl to with after all, it's n-

"WHAAAAT?! LEGOSI GOT A GIRL?!" Collot yelled in absolute shock. From afar they could hear Jack gasp from inside the bathroom, the labrador came running back panicking.

"I-I't's not what it looks like!" Jack explained nervously. Durham stared at him dubiously.

"What you're talking about? Did Legosi told you about Juno?" The coyote asked with genuine surprise. He didn't expect Legosi to mention about it so quickly to the labrador.

"Juno?" Jack asked, looking even more confused than the coyote. "Errr, what are _you_ talking about?"

Durham glanced around, wondering what in the hell was going on with this conversation. What was Jack implying? He knew about Legosi having a girl but it wasn't Juno he was expecting? What was going on here?

Collot and Miguno seemed at complete loss at the unfold of events. Collot was in a complete state of utter disbelief, being outdone by three of his roommates in a spam of few weeks was not doing well for his pride.

"We better get dressed Jack. We will have time to talk about this tomorrow. Let's enjoy the night for now, besides, I kinda have a place in mind for us to have dinner."


End file.
